On  23 December,2012 panchayat By-Election will be held.

Talking to reporters, Suman said that the polling will begin at 8 am and end at 4pm. After the counting, results will be declared on December 24 informed the BDO.

A total of 5 seats comprising three panchayat members, one village head, one deputy village head are lying vacant in Nadaun added Sudarshan Suman.

The sources said that the polling party would be dispatched to the polling booths 24 hours before the voting.

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Friday said the state was always against foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail.

Himachal opposes FDI in retail

In a letter written to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Dhumal said: "We are committed to protecting the interests of petty traders and entrepreneurs by not allowing implementation of FDI in retail in the state."

Expressing surprise over Sharma's statement in the Lok Sabha two days ago that BJP states Gujarat and Himachal and Akali Dal-ruled Punjab never opposed FDI in writing, the Chief Minister said the statement "is concocted and contrary to the facts".

"Sharma has never communicated with us in this regard," he said in a statement.

Dhumal said the BJP government had always been opposing the FDI in the country and same was the case in Himachal.

He criticised Sharma for not supporting the demand of the fruit-growing state to increase import duty on apples to protect the domestic industry.

The government on Friday won the vote in the Rajya Sabha on FDI, two days after it sailed through the Lok Sabha. This paves the way for foreign equity in multi-brand retail in the country.