Apart from Dhumal, Sarveen Chowdhary, Ravinder Singh Ravi, Krishan Kapoor, Ishwar Dass Dhiman, Gulab Singh and Jai Ram Thakur, who are all ministers, entered the fray on the penultimate day of filing nominations.
Former ministers G S Bali, Asha Kumari, Shyama Sharma, B B L Butail and Roop Singh, former Speaker Radha Raman Shashtri and President of Himachal Lokhit Party, Maheshwar Singh also filed their nomination papers.
Sitting BJP MLAs, Roop Singh and Khushi Ram Balnatah filed their nominations as Independent and HLP candidates from Sundernagar and Kusumpti constituencies respectively.
Maximum number of eleven candidates filed nominations from Dehra while nine candidates entered the fray from Gagret, followed by Chintpurni, Palampur and Akri (seven each) and Sujanpur and Kangra (six each).
Sudha Sushant, wife of sitting BJP MP from Kangra Chamba constituency, filed her nomination as an independent candidate from Fatehpur Assembly segment after she was denied a BJP ticket to contest the polls.
HPCC chief and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh would file his nominations from Shimla(Rural) constituency tomorrow.
