Mandi (Himachal Pradesh): Congress candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh filed his nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and party MP Rajiv Shukla on Thursday.
"Today, I have filed nominations from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in the presence of CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and party MP Rajiv Shukla. This fight is not against anyone, this fight is just for the development of Mandi. My focus is only going to be on the issues of development," Vikramaditya Singh said after filling nominations.
Hitting out at actor and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut, he said, "Kangana does not know things here. It is zero...We too will support that an airport come up here in the time to come. We will make all efforts for it but the location at which they were trying for it to come up, is a very fertile area...If we build an airport in such a fertile area, we will have to listen to the issues of farmers..."
The Congress leader further said, "I am confident that the 'sankalp' we take here will be only development oriented. We have worked and stood with people in difficult times, especially during calamity...There are other candidates too, there is glamour and Bollywood but it will not make any difference. People of Himachal Pradesh and they support educated people."
Exuding confidence in Singh's win, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla said, "Vikramaditya Singh will win with a margin of 2 lakh votes. He is a well-educated person, who is going to work for the development of Mandi..."
The Mandi Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on June 1, in the seventh phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Himachal Pradesh has four Lok Sabha seats: Hamirpur, Mandi, Shimla, and Kangra. The BJP won all four seats in 2019. The elections to the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh and by-polls to the six assembly constituencies that fell vacant with the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs will be held on June 1.