What worked for BJP, what went wrong for Cong in HP
DHARAMSHALA: The bypolls to Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala and Pachhad seats were crucial for both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress as pressure loomed over the former to retain the seats while the latter hoped to revive its fortunes after a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.
It was also a litmus test for chief minister (CM) Jai Ram Thakur to prove his leadership prowess.
The saffron party comfortably won the battle while the Congress was confronted with a huge setback, particularly in Dharamshala where its candidate had to even forfeit his deposit.
BJP’S UNPARALLELED CAMPAIGN
The victory was a big pay off to the BJP’s aggressive campaigning in both the constituencies. Despite having an edge of being the ruling party, the saffron party did not take the byelection lightly and launched its campaign much before the candidates were even declared.
Besides man-to-man marking, the party organised over a dozen public meetings across the constituency to galvanise voters.
A brigade of local BJP leaders, including ministers and MLAs, camped in Dharamshala and led the charge in various areas. The party also delayed the announcement of candidates deliberately in order to pit a worthy contender.
The BJP fielded gaddi leader Vishal Nehria soon after the Congress declared Vijay Inder Karan, who belongs to the same community. The tribal community has a strong vote bank in Dharamshala. In Pachhad, the BJP handed over the command to its firebrand irrigation and public health (IPH) minister Thakur Mahender Singh, who is known as a clever strategist. The party was able to sail through the triangular contest created by party rebels on both the seats.
INSTEAD OF AFFECTING BJP’S PROSPECTS, THE REBELS DENTED THE CONGRESS VOTE BANK WHICH IN TURN HELPED THE RULING PARTY TO RETAIN BOTH THE SEATS
CONG’S PROSPECTS MARRED BY INFIGHTING
The Congress’ was in an utter chaos in Dharamshala. Initially, former minister Sudhir Sharma was tipped to be the party nominee, but he refused at the eleventh hour citing health reasons, forcing the party to hunt for a new face. When the party picked Vijay Inder Karan, it was quite evident that his fight would be more with his own party men than the BJP.
Sharma, who represented Dharamshala from 2012-2017, stayed away from the canvassing and his supporters too were missing from the action.
Party chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore and leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri led the campaign in absence of Sharma with Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur, who was the overall in-charge of the HP bypolls.
The Congress had already conceded defeat when its candidate held a press conference a day before the results, accusing Sharma of anti-party activities and supporting the BJP.
Its Pachhad candidate Gangu Ram Musafir, who managed to put up a decent fight, was the only saving grace. It was third straight assembly poll defeat for the 72-year-old former seventerm legislator, who made an emotional appeal to people to vote for him in his ‘last’ election.
REBELS’ SHOW OF STRENGTH
Making the contest triangular, the two BJP rebels in Dharamshala and Pachhad — Rakesh Chaudhary and Dayal Payari — managed to put up a decent show. While Chaudhary secured second position in Dharmashala, Payari polled significant number of votes. Election analyst Priyabhishek Sharma said instead of affecting BJP’s prospects, the rebels dented the Congress vote bank which in turn helped the ruling party to retain both seats.
COMMUNITY FACTOR IN DHARAMSHALA
The community factor weighed heavily in the Dharamshala assembly segment over all other issues.
The OBC electors on many booths voted almost en masse in favour of Independents. An Independent, Rakesh Chaudhary, had given the slogan of ‘Dhartiputra’ and made ‘discrimination with OBC’ his main poll plank. However, it consolidated the voters of other community in favour of the BJP.