Lack of public connect costs BJP its citadel in HP
DHARAMSHALA: TheBJPsweptthe electionsinHimachalPradeshby winning 44 of the 68 seats yet it tasted defeat on Hamirpur district, its citadel for two decades, where it managed to win two of the five seats.
The BJP has remained in a dominant position in Hamirpur since 1998 when it won all five assembly segments. In 2003, the party won three seats and the Congress two; in 2007, the BJP won four and the Congress one seat, while in 2012, the BJP won 3 and one seat each went to the Congress and an Independent.
Since 1996, the Hamirpur parliamentary segment has seen eight elections of which the BJP won seven. The last time a Congress candidate won from this parliamentaryconstituencywas in 1996.
Thistime,theBJP’svoteshare went up by about 1% from 47.9% in the 2012 assembly elections to 48.8%.
What led to the BJP losing three seats in Hamirpur was the improvement in the Congress votesharethatshotupbyover5% as compared to the last election. In 2012, the Congress vote share was 38% that went up to 45% in 2017.
TheCongressretainedBarsar and won Nadaun and Sujanpur, while the BJP candidates returned victorious in Bhoranj and Hamirpur.
VOTERSFELTIGNORED
PollanalystssaytheBJP’sdefeat in its fortress can be attributed to local factors.
“InSujanpur,Congresscandidate Rajinder Singh Rana was a strong candidate given his reputation of being a do-gooder,” said Lekh Raj, a supporter of Rana.
Secondly, BJP’s chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal lacked public connect like Rana has in Sujanpur. There is a per- ception among local residents that Dhumal ignored Sujanpur when he was chief minister for two terms.
Thirdly, Rana had been in the BJP before joining the Congress and knows the party’s strategies well. He was able to counter the BJP’s campaign effectively.
SUKHU’SRESURGENCE
In Nadaun, state Congress chief SukhvinderSinghSukhuwaspitted against BJP’s Vijay Agnihotri. Sukhu lost to Agnihotri in 2012 by morethan 6,000 votes but this time the state Congress chief staged a comeback by winning the seat by 2,349 votes.
“Sukhu has grown in stature in fiveyears.Asa Congresschief, he took on outgoing chief minis- ter Virbhadra Singh, too,” said a political analyst, requesting anonymity. “So people see him as a potentialleaderwhomayleadthe Congressinthestateoneday,”he said, adding that anti-incumbency against Agnihotri also went in favour of Sukhu.
The Congress retained the Barsar seat in Hamirpur in a close contest.Its candidate, Inder DuttLakhanpal,whowasachief parliamentary secretary in the Virbhadra Singh-led government,defeatedBaldevSharmaof theBJPbyanarrowmarginof400 votes.
Lakhanpalhasapersonalrapport with people that Sharma does not enjoy since he has remainedmiredincontroversies during his two terms as MLA.
SINCE 1998, HAMIRPUR HAD BEEN A SAFFRON STRONGHOLD AS THE BJP CONTINUED TO BAG MAJORITY SEATS THERE