Shimla, Mar 5 (PTI) Kangra District Congress Committee president Anurag Sharma is set to be elected unopposed from the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh as the BJP has not fielded any candidate this year.
Sharma filed his nomination papers on the last day on Thursday.
He was accompanied by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, state Congress chief Vinay Kumar, cabinet ministers and other senior party leaders. Meanwhile, the opposition BJP, which upset the Congress’s apple cart in the last election in 2024, has not fielded any candidate this time. Since Thursday was the last day for filing nominations, Sharma is likely to be elected unanimously.
The scrutiny of the nomination will take place on Friday. Sharma’s election will be announced after the March 9 withdrawal deadline.
Congress high command announced its candidate on Thursday morning, while suspense over the BJP fielding a candidate continued until the window for filing nominations closed.
Sharma’s candidature came as a surprise to many who were vying for the Congress ticket.
Sharma, hailing from Baijnath in Kangra district, is said to be very close to Chief Minister Sukhu. His nomination by the Congress high command was seen as a balancing act for Kangra district — the state’s largest district, where the party won 10 out of 15 seats in the last Assembly polls, got only two cabinet berths.
After Sharma filed his nomination, Sukhu said the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and the AICC President, Mallikarjun Kharge, expressed trust in the youth. He said the decision also instilled confidence that a worker from a village can also get the party ticket.
State Congress president Vinay Kumar congratulated Sharma and lauded his performance as Kangra DCC president.
“Getting the Congress ticket for the Rajya Sabha was like a dream for me. It is a great moment for common workers like me,” Sharma said, adding once elected, he would raise in the Rajya Sabha the stoppage of the Revenue Deficit Grant to Himachal Pradesh.
Sharma — once the right-hand man of former Congress minister and now BJP MLA Sudhir Sharma — was appointed DCC president only two months ago, in January.
Sudhir Sharma was among the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan in the 2024 Rajya Sabha election. He later joined the BJP and was re-elected in the ensuing by-elections.
Anurag Sharma hails from Bir in the Baijnath area of Kangra and is the president of the Billing Paragliding Association.
Born on August 29, 1978, Sharma has been an active member of the Congress since 1995. He was the NSUI president of Baijnath Government College and held the position of the party youth wing’s state general secretary from 1998 to 2001. PTI BPL RUK RUK
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