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All eyes on Mandi ‘crown’ as D-day finally arrives
Exit polls have predicted a win for Kangana Ranaut, who shot to fame after her successful Bollywood film “Queen”, over Vikramaditya Singh, the scion of the Bushahr royal family
With counting of votes scheduled for Tuesday, the contest in Mandi is set to draw eyeballs for its intriguing contest that pitted actor-turned politician and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kangana Ranaut against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh.
Exit polls have predicted a win for Ranaut, who shot to fame after her successful Bollywood film “Queen”, over Vikramaditya, the scion of the Bushahr royal family and the son of six-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and sitting Mandi MP Pratibha Singh. The leader is banking on the strong support base in the constituency stemming from his family’s prominent political legacy.
The Mandi Lok Sabha constituency led the state with a 73% turnout in the June 1 elections. Public excitement is now palpable ahead of the verdict. On polling day, both Kangana and Vikramaditya had exuded confidence.
Both candidates bring significant recognition and youth appeal to the race, making the Mandi contest particularly compelling. While Kangana is making her electoral debut, Vikramaditya, who is the PWD minister in the state government, is also contesting first Lok Sabha polls.
Vikramaditya’s win may reshape the political dynamics in the state and could signal the resurgence of the Virbhadra faction within the Congress. His win is also expected to strengthen the second line of leadership in the party.
Professor Harish Kumar Thakur of political science department, Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), said, “For Kangana, winning the election will signal the start of her new career as a politician. The outcome, however, is more crucial for Vikramaditya. If he wins, he will emerge as a strong leader within his party. His political clout depends seriously on the outcome of the election.”
High-decibel campaign
The Mandi election had witnessed a bitter verbal duel between the two candidates.
Singh had in one of his barbs dubbed Ranaut a worthy competitor to comedian Kapil Sharma. He had maintained that his opponent lacked a vision for Mandi’s development and was only resorting to personal attacks during the campaigning.
Notably, Ranaut has called Singh a “bigda hua shehzada (spoiled prince)”, who received ancestral inheritance besides targeting both Singh and his mother, Pratibha Singh, for “being addicted to power”.
Pratibha had wrested the seat for the Congress in the 2021 bypolls held following the demise of BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, who had registered back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2019. Earlier in 2009, Virbhadra had won from Mandi, but resigned in 2012 to become the CM and Pratibha had won the bypoll in 2013.
