Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut figures among the aspirants for the BJP ticket for the byelection to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat that has been vacant since the death of Ramswaroop Sharma in March this year.
The state election committee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will meet in Dharamshala soon to draw a panel of candidates for the October 30 byelections in the three assembly segments of Fatehpur, Jubbal Kotkhai and Arki besides the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency.
The Arki seat fell vacant after six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh died on July 8, while the Jubbal Kotkhai incumbent Narendra Bratga passed away in June and former transport minister Sujan Singh Pathania, who represented Fatehpur died earlier.
Though Kangana has not openly expressed her desire to contest the elections, the BJP top brass has already had one round of discussions on the prospective candidates and her name was discussed. One section of the party was averse to allotting the ticket to her.
Kangana belongs to Bhambla village in Mandi district and has built a new house in Manali, which is also a part of the Mandi parliamentary constituency.
CM’s aide among contenders for Mandi ticket
Pankaj Jamwal, the BJP leader from Jogindernagar and the younger brother of BJP organisational secretary for the seven northeast states Ajay, is also vying for the ticket.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur’s aide, Nihal Chand, who was the Milkfed chairman, is also said to be keen to contest from Mandi.
Kargil war hero Brigadier Kushal Thakur has been lobbying to contest the elections from Mandi since long. He was interested to contest in 2017 but the party preferred sitting Lok Sabha member, Ramswaroop Sharma.
Ajay Sharma, the BJP spokesman, was also vying for tickets along with state media coordinator Praveen Sharma. The names of state Jal Shakti minister Mahender Singh and education minister Govind Thakur also figure among the contenders.