Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will contest the upcoming Assembly elections from the Arki seat in Solan district — and not Theog as announced earlier.  Singh, who replaced state party chief Sukhwinder Sukhu as campaign committee chief on Monday, recently visited the area to attend a religious congregation. He had previously said he wanted to contest from a seat which the Congress has not won in the last few elections — Arki won by BJP in the 2007 and 2012 state elections. Singh’s son is likely to contest from Shimla (Rural).

Last week, Singh had announced that he would file his nomination papers from Theog constituency, which vacated by Congress leader Vidya Stokes. He was planning to hold a roadshow from the constituency as well.

68-member Assembly

“I am not simply contesting the polls this time. My larger agenda is to form the next government. Theog is not new to me as I have travelled to almost every corner of this constituency. Earlier, when I was an MP from Mahasoo, I had represented this area as part of my parliamentary constituency,” he had said.

The state will go to polls on November 9 and the results will  declared on December 18. The ruling party Congress holds 36 seats in the 68-member Assembly, while BJP has 26. The tenure of the House will end in January 2018.