Congress mulling new candidate for Himachal’s Mandi seat

May 18th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur Monday ruled out his resignation in the wake of the party's poor performance in parliamentary elections in the hill state. 'There is no question of submitting the resignation (in the wake of the party's poor performance in the just-concluded elections),' he told reporters here.

May 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was earlier leading in all the four parliamentary constituencies of Himachal Pradesh, started trailing in one seat as counting of votes progressed Saturday, a poll official said. 'While the BJP is maintaining a comfortable lead in three seats - Shimla, Hamirpur and Kangra - the Congress is now leading in one seat, Mandi, by early afternoon,' the official said.

May 16th, 2009 GUWAHATI - The Congress was leading in 16 of the 24 seats in the northeast followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in three and the Left parties in two. According to latest trends available, the Congress was leading in 10 of the 14 seats in Assam followed by the BJP with three and the Bodoland People's Front, an ally of the Congress, in one seat.

May 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - Having been unlucky 10 times in electoral politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and more so its candidate, Virender Kashyap, finally managed to win the Shimla Lok Sabha seat. Kashyap defeated two-time Congress MP Dhani Ram Shandil by a margin of 27,327 votes.

May 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in all the four parliamentary constituencies of Himachal Pradesh. The four seats - Shimla (reserved for Scheduled Castes), Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra - saw 59.17 percent polling May 13.

May 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - Virbhadra Singh of the Congress has won Himachal Pradesh's Mandi parliamentary constituency, a poll official said Saturday. The five-time chief minister defeated his nearest rival Maheshwar Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by 13,997 votes, state chief electoral officer Anil Khachi told IANS.

May 11th, 2009 SHIMLA - The curtains came down Monday on campaigning for the four Lok Sabha seats from Himachal Pradesh that was by and large devoid of din and colour. Thirty-one candidates are in the fray for the state's four Lok Sabha seats - Shimla (Scheduled Caste), Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur, where polling will be held in the fifth and final phase May 13.

May 11th, 2009 KULLU - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of being weak in fighting terrorism. 'The central government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has to run to (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi to get her consent before every decision, has no wherewithal to tackle terrorism in the country,' Modi said at an election rally at Bhuntar near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

April 23rd, 2009 SHIMLA - Congress leader and five-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh has total assets worth over Rs.20.5 crore (Rs.205 million) -- and the multimillionaire politician doesn't own a car. His wife, sitting MP Pratibha Singh has over Rs.1.15 crore property.

April 21st, 2009 SHIMLA - Maheshwar Singh, three-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, filed his nomination papers from Mandi constituency of Himachal Pradesh Tuesday. Maheshwar Singh, who is scion of the erstwhile Kullu ruling family, has been pitted against Virbhadra Singh, who belongs to the former royal family of Bushehr state.

April 7th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Congress Tuesday said it was still open to offering the Surat Lok Sabha seat in south Gujarat to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) though their alliance has broken up in the state. 'The Congress is decided on fielding its candidates from 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat while still leaving the option for the Surat seat for the NCP to decide,' Gujarat Congress president Siddharth Patel told reporters here.

March 27th, 2009 MANDI - Himachal Pradesh's Mandi constituency is set to witness a battle royale in the coming Lok Sabha elections with two candidates from erstwhile princely families crossing swords. Congress leader and five-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who belongs to the former royal family of Bushehr state, will face Maheshwar Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) three-time MP and scion of the erstwhile Kullu ruling family.

March 16th, 2009 SHIMLA - The hills of Himachal Pradesh have warmed up to the April-May general elections, with the Congress finally naming candidates for three of the state's four parliamentary seats - almost two months after archrival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced all its nominees. The Congress Saturday named candidates for three seats - Shimla, Kangra and Mandi.

March 8th, 2009 SHIMLA - Onkar Shad of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will contest the Lok Sabha election from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, the party announced Saturday. 'Onkar Shad will be our candidate from Mandi,' CPI-M state committee member Tikendra Singh Panwar told IANS here.

March 4th, 2009 SHIMLA - With the announcement of general elections, the political scene has hotted up in Himachal Pradesh with the two arch rivals Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to be locked in a keen contest. The Congress, believe political pundits, is likely to face a tough challenge from the BJP in retaining the three seats it had won in the 2004 elections in view of the latter's landslide victory in the state assembly elections December 2007.