By IANS
Shimla : Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are likely to suffer at the hands of rebel candidates in the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls this month.
The BJP has nine rebels in the fray. This includes former ministers Roop Dass Kashyap and Karan Singh. Rakesh Pathania, a former legislator, can also cause damage to the party.
The Congress has eight rebel candidates including D.D. Thakur from Mandi who joined the BJP a few days ago.
Other Congress rebels include former deputy speaker Dharampal Thakur, Prem Kaushal, Sanjay Rattan, Arvind Dogra and Natha Singh.
On the last day of withdrawals Monday, 38 candidates opted out of the Dec 19 electoral race, leaving 334 candidates in the fray for the second and last phase of polling for the 65 assembly seats.
The first phase of polling for three tribal seats took place Nov 14. The vote count will begin Dec 28.