New Delhi: For the 2018 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its initial list of 62 candidates. Five women are on the list of candidates for the Assembly elections that the BJP Central Election Committee has authorised.

The Central Election Committee (ECE) of the BJP met on Tuesday to finalise the list of candidates for the Assembly elections and discuss the distribution of seats in the state. A few sitting MLAs have been removed.

Jairam Thakur, the chief minister, is running from Seraj, along with Anil Sharma and Satpal Singh Satti from Mandi and Una, respectively.

Rita Dhiman from Indora (SC), Vikram Jariyal from Bhattiyat, Ranveer Singh (Nikka) from Nurpur, Hans Raj from Churah (SC), Dr. Jannak Raj from Bharmour (ST), Indira Kapoor from Chamba, DS from Dalhousie, Rakesh Pathania from Fatehpur, Sanjay Guleria from Jawali, Bikram Thakur from Jaswan-Prangpur, and (SC).

Arun Kumar Mehra (Kuka) from Nagrota, Pawan Kajal from Kangra, Sarveen Chaudhary from Shahpur, Rakesh Chaudhary from Dharamsala, Trilok Kapoor from Palampur, Mulkhraj Premi from Baijnath (SC), and Ramlal Markandeya from Lahaul & Spiti have also received tickets from the BJP (SC).

Surender Shourie from Banjar, Lokendra Kumar from Anni (SC), Deepraj Kapoor (Banthal) from Karsog (SC), Rakesh Jambal from Sundernagar, Vinod Kumar from Nachan (SC), Puran Chand Thakur from Darang, Prakash Rana from Jogindranagar, Rajat Thakur from Dharampur, and Anil Sharma from Mandi have all been given tickets.

Inder Singh Gandhi, Daleep Thakur, Anil Dhiman, Captain (Retd) Ranjit Singh, Narendra Thakur, and Vijay Agnihotri will run from Balh (SC), Sarkaghat (SC), Bhoranj (SC), Sujanpur (SC), and Nadaun (SC), respectively.

Prem Kumar Dhumal, the previous chief minister and father of Anurag Thakur, was not awarded a ticket by the party. Gulab Singh, the father-in-law of Anurag Thakur, also received a ticket denial.

Both had to encounter defeat in the 2017 elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, and other prominent BJP members were present at the CEC meeting, which was presided over by BJP National President JP Nadda.

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