Shimla: The BJP on Saturday dropped two of its four MPs, including former chief minister Shanta Kumar, from its list of candidates for all the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh.

The party renominated Anurag Thakur, the son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, from Hamirpur and Ram Swaroop Sharma from Mandi.

The saffron party also replaced its Shimla candidate, Virender Kashyap, with Pachhad MLA Suresh Kashyap.

Shanta Kumar, 84, had told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday that he was unwilling to contest the parliamentary election. With this, the former chief minister has apparently retired from electoral politics.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had won all the four Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 election, fielded state minister and Dharamshala legislator Kishan Kapoor from Kangra in place of Shanta Kumar.

Kishan Kapoor, 68, is currently the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister in the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government.

Suresh Kashyap, 48, has worked in the Indian Air Force for more than 16 years.

Ram Swaroop Sharma was fielded from Mandi despite former telecom minister Sukh Ram’s grandson, Aashray Sharma, being also a claimant. Sharma had defeated former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife, Pratibha Singh.

Himachal Pradesh goes to polls in a single phase on May 19.

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