Forty candidates are left in the fray for four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh after nominations of 10 covering candidates of major political parties were rejected during scrutiny today.
Seven candidates were left in Shimla (reserve) seat and 12 in Hamirpur constituency after three nominations each were rejected from both the seats.
In Mandi, 11 candidates and 10 in Hamirpur after two nominations each were rejected from both the constituencies.
Congress, BJP, Aam Aadmi Party and BSP have fielded their candidates in all four constituencies even as all the four sitting MPs -- Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur), Varinder Kashyap (Shimla), Dr Rajan Sushant (Kangra) and Pratibha Singh (Mandi) are seeking re-election.
Six women candidates and former Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar are also contesting the LS elections from Kangra Parliamentary constituency.
For by-elections for Sujanpur assembly seats, nominations of two candidates were rejected after which four candidates Anita Rana (Congress), Narendra Thakur (BJP), Praveen Kumar (BSP) and Subhash Chand (Independent) were left in the fray.
Meanwhile, Election Commission has clarified that telecast of films and commercial advertisements involving actors who were contesting elections would not be restrained on television channels or cinema theaters.
However, telecast of such feature films (other than commercial advertisements) would not be allowed on Doordarshan during the period of the enforcement of Model Code of Conduct, considering that Doordarshan runs on public funds.
Disclosing this, the Chief Electoral Officer Narinder Chauhan said that as per EC directives, any political content in the form of messages or comments or photos or videos being posted or uploaded on the 'blogs or self account on websites or social media website' would not be treated as political advertisement and therefore, would not require pre-certification.
He said that even if the same was posted or uploaded by political parties or candidates, it would not fall within the meaning political advertisement and would not be subject to directions or guidelines issued by the Commission.
