Young ‘King’ vs reel ‘Queen’
The Mandi parliamentary constituency, known for its royal legacy, continues to be a battleground of kings and queens. In the 2024 edition of the Lok Sabha polls, royal scion on the erstwhile Rampur Bushahr princely state Vikramaditya Singh will take on Bollywood “Queen” Kangana Ranaut. While the son of six-time former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh is in poll fray on a Congress mandate, Kangana Ranaut has been named by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Kangana, hails from Bhambla village in the Sarkaghat assembly segment of Mandi, has been campaigning for days, attracting the nation’s attention towards the seat in the quaint state. The seat, however, has a history of voting for candidates belonging to “royal” bloodlines. This time, while one could say that Kangana is in the fray as a commoner, it is poetic that the moniker of “queen” can be associated with the actor-turned-politician whose film by the same name had garnered worldwide recognition.
However, in the more recent times, Kangana has established herself as a staunch “Hindutva” advocate, and has been pulled into several controversies, the latest being her “bada pappu and chota pappu” remark about Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Vikramaditya.
Vikramaditya, who takes pride in his Hindu roots, is the public works minister. He was out the of the scarce Congress leaders who had attended the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya in January.
“I am thankful to the high command for giving me a chance to serve the people of Mandi. This constituency has been very close to my heart because of my father and mother. I would like to carry forward the legacy of my late father,” said Vikramaditya.
Since the first elections in independent India in 1952, where Amrit Kaur, daughter of king Harnam Singh, emerged victorious, to the present day, Mandi continues to see the clash of royals. Another high-stake battle was seen in 1957, when the eighth ruler of Mandi, Congress candidate Joginder Sen Bahadur, defeated, Anand Chand, scion of the erstwhile Bilaspur.
For two consecutive terms In 1962 and 1967, Mandi backed Lalit Sen, Congress leader and ruler of erstwhile Suket princely state.
In 1971, Virbhadra Singh, the scion of erstwhile Bushahr princely state, entered the poll fray for the first time. Lovingly dubbed as “raja ji” by the people of the state and otherwise, he went on to become the chief minister for six terms.
In 1977, Janata Party’s Ganga Singh, with no royal heritage, became a “giant slayer” after he defeated Virbhadra. Virbhadra reclaimed the constituency in 1980 after the fall of Janata Party government.
The first-ever election without a royal in the fray was held in 1984, when Congress veteran Sukh Ram defeated BJP’s Madhukar. Normalcy for the seat was restored by its standards in 1989 when BJP’s Maheshwar Singh, scion of the Kullu royal family, won the election.
It took political titan Sukh Ram, who went on to become the CM, to defeat Maheshwar in 1991. It was another deviation in 1996 when there were no royals in fray. In 1998, royals returned again, with Pratibha Singh, wife of Virbhadra, winning on the seat. Maheswar Singh was back to winning ways in 1999, defeating Congress’ Kaul Singh.
In 2004, tabled turned yet again as Maheshwar Singh was defeated by Pratibha Singh and in 2009, Virbhadra returned to the helm. In 2013, Pratibha won from the constituency after her husband vacated the seat to become the chief minister.
Riding on the Narendra Modi’s wave, BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma defeated Pratibha Singh in the 2014 elections and he retained the seat in 2019, defeating Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma. The untimely demise of Ram Swaroop led to byelections in 2021, when Pratibha Singh emerged victorious again.
The Mandi constituency comprises of 17 assembly segments spread over six districts and is the second largest constituency in India.