Battlelines have been drawn on all the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh, with the Congress declaring legislator Ram Lal Thakur as its candidate against sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Saturday.
Ram Lal Thakur, 67, is the sitting Congress MLA from Naina Devi assembly segment. The five-time MLA will contest from Hamirpur against Anurag Thakur, who is the son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.
Anurag Thakur had defeated Rajinder Singh Rana by more than 98,000 votes in the 2014 election.
Apart from Ram Lal Thakur, the Congress has announced the candidature of MLA Pawan Kajal for Kangra constituency, Colonel (retd) Dhani Ram Shandil from Shimla, former chief minister Sukh Ram's grandson and BJP state minister Anil Sharma's son, Aashray Sharma, from Mandi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has also announced the candidature of Pachhad MLA Suresh Kashyap from Shimla, sitting MP Ram Swaroop Sharma from Mandi, state minister Kishan Kapoor from Kangra.
Himachal goes to polls in the seventh and last phase on May 19.