Shimla, Nov 29 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of the Congress and his arch-rival Prem Kumar Dhumal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filed their nomination papers Thursday for the assembly elections.
This is for the fifth time that Singh, 73, will be contesting from Shimla district’s Rohru, 115 km from here.
Before filing his papers, he addressed a large public rally in Rohru town and exuded confidence that the Congress would again form the government in the state.
Singh first became chief minister of the state in 1983. He contested from Rohru in 1990. He has so far been in the top post five times, including once for two weeks in 1998.
Dhumal, BJP’s chief minister candidate, filed his nomination from the Bamsan constituency in Hamirpur district.
Scores of candidates made a beeline to file their nomination papers across the state Thursday as the day was declared highly auspicious by astrologers.
For the second phase, the last day for filing of nomination papers is Friday and the last date for withdrawals is Dec 3. Polling takes place Dec 19 and counting will start Dec 28.
The first phase of polling this month covered three constituencies.