Himachal Pradesh Gears Up for Bipolar Contest Between Congress, BJP in Lok Sabha and Assembly Bypolls

Shimla:  Himachal Pradesh seems to be heading for a bipolar contest for four parliamentary seats along with a bypoll of six assembly seats on Saturday between the two conventional arch-rivals — the state ruling Congress and the BJP — whose prominent faces comprise Union minister and four-time MP Anurag Thakur, Rajya Sabha Congress veteran Anand Sharma, and Bollywood actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut, the BJP’s greenhorn.

The BJP, which won all Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019, seems to be banking high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “charisma” after his three elections rallies to retain all Parliamentary seats and win six Assembly seats, while the Congress is eyeing on its strong vote bank of 2.5-lakh government employees, whose demand of restoring the old pension scheme has been implemented by its government led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) remained missing from the state’s political landscape, like the November 2022 Assembly polls.

Political observers told IANS the BJP has managed an edge over the Congress by holding a statewide campaign with public meetings by Prime Minister Modi and party’s national leadership, comprising Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal.

The Congress, however, largely banked on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress on December 8, 2022, got an absolute majority in the Assembly elections, winning 40 seats — six over than the half-way mark of 34 in the 68-member House, while the outgoing BJP was reduced to 25.

For the Assembly bypoll, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given tickets to all six Congress rebels, who had supported it in the Rajya Sabha elections. The candidates are Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul-Spiti, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret and Devender Bhutto from Kutlehar. These seats fell vacant due to the disqualification of the legislators for defying the party whip while passing the state budget. (IANS)

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