Stage set for high-stakes battle in HP
The ruling BJP faces the challenge to defend its 2014 tally when it had won all four Lok Sabha seats
SHIMLA/DHARAMSALA:ALL four seats of Himachal Pradesh will go to polls in the seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha election, on May 19.
In a state where politics has broadly been bipolar, stakes are high for both national parties — the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Riding on the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014, the BJP had won all the four Lok Sabha seats — Mandi, Kangra, Shimla and Hamirpur. Furthermore, the BJP returned to power in the state with a thumping majority in the 2017 assembly elections.
However, all candidates face anti-incumbency, and whether this will be a factor on Sunday, remains to be seen.
There are 45 candidates in the fray and Nisha Katoch, an Independent, is the only woman candidate contesting the elections from the state from Kangra .
BJP has repeated two of its sitting MPS in two seats, and fielded fresh faces in the other two. In Hamirpur, Congress candidate Ram Lal Thakur is a state legislator.
He will contest against threetime parliamentarian Anurag Thakur of the BJP.
The saffron party has not lost this seat since 1998, and Anurag Thakur’s father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, is the former chief minister of the state.
In Mandi, the home district of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, the BJP has reposed its faith in its sitting MP Ram Swaroop Sharma. Pitted against him is Congress nominee Aashray Sharma, the grandson of former telecom minister Sukh Ram.
In Shimla, the BJP has swapped current MP Virender Kashyap with Suresh Kashyap, the sitting legislator from Pachhad while Congress has fielded the former two-term MP and ex-minister colonel (retd) Dhani Ram Shandil. Shimla has traditionally remained a Congress stronghold but the party lost in two back to back elections here in 2009 and 2014.
The Congress is eyeing to regain the ground in Shimla and poll battle is likely to be a close one this parliamentary segment.
The BJP ran a high decibel campaign focused on nationalism and the air strikes on Jaish-e-mohammad’s terror camp in Pakistan’s Balakot in February. State leaders mostly talked about the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while other issues of national importance did not find much mention in the rallies. BJP’S state unit chief Satpal Singh Satti was issued three notices by the Election Commission (EC) for using slurs against Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Congress’ leaders spoke of the loss suffered by traders after the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax, and due to demonetisation. It also brought up BJP’S unfulfilled promise of raising the import duty of apples, from 50% to 70%; the state is known as the ‘apple bowl of India’ and a major contributor to the country’s apple export.
“As the parties gear up for the May 19 poll, they have left no stone unturned to outscore each other. National rhetoric overshadowed the local issues and to some extent, the Modi wave seems to be alive to bail the BJP out,” Harish Thakur, who teaches political science at Himachal Pradesh University, said.
“The Congress may give tough competition at Shimla and Kangra but chief minister Jairam Thakur image will play a positive for the BJP,” he added.
AMONG 45 CANDIDATES IN FRAY, NISHA KATOCH, AN INDEPENDENT FROM KANGRA, IS THE ONLY WOMAN NOMINEE CONTESTING POLLS FROM THE STATE