Shimla, October 23: With just a few hours left to file nomination papers in Himachal, the Congress on Monday changed the ticket in Theog constituency. Now, veteran Congress leader Vidya Stokes would contest Assembly elections from Theog.
Earlier, the AICC had given the ticket to a young leader, Deepak Rathore. At 2.30 pm, she filed her papers and Rathore would be her covering candidate.
State Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu confirmed that Stokes would contest elections from Theog. He said that the ticket was changed as Vidya was adamant that she had left the seat only for Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and now that he was contesting from Arki, she would fight from Theog.
Vidya Stokes, 89, is the eldest member in the Congress. She was elected to the House for the first time during a by-election in Theog in May 1974. She was re-elected from Theog in 1982, 1985, 1990 and 1998. She shifted to now-abolished Kumarsain constituency and won from there in 2003 and 2007. She has held several Cabinet portfolios in the past and was also a contender for the CM’s post in 2003.
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