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Lok Sabha wipeout dampens Congress’ Himachal assembly bypolls win
Silver lining for Himachal Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, but party’s failure to secure leads in more than seven of 68 assembly segments raises questions
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) third consecutive clean sweep on the state’s four Lok Sabha seats had far-reaching implication for bigwigs in the state, particularly chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who spearheaded the Congress campaign and Vikramaditya Singh who lost the Mandi battle to Kangana Ranaut.
The assembly bypolls results, however, came as a silver lining for Sukhu. The win on four of the six seats not only improved Congress’ strength in the 68-member House to 38 but also bolstered his stature in state politics.
The Lok Sabha polls, however, tell a different story. BJP secured leads in 61 of the state’s 68 assembly segments as Congress leaders, ministers in the state government even, failed to make an impact.
Of the 17-assembly segments falling under Mandi, Vikramaditya, the public works department (PWD) minister, was able to secure leads in Rampur Bushahr, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Anni. He polled the highest 39,187 votes from home turf in Rampur.
“The elections to Lok Sabha were more profitable… It was an instance of party high command contesting elections,” Vikramaditya who heavily relied on father and six-time former CM Virbhadra Singh’s legacy, says.
His campaign, however, fell short as he lost to Kangana by 75,000-odd votes — the slimmest margin in the state.
Former CM and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur, who had come under attack from his partymen for “losing” a chance to form the government after the Rajya Sabha fiasco, meanwhile, proved his mettle by helping ensure a comfortable win for Kangana. BJP secured the lead in all the nine segments falling under the Mandi district. Kangana polled the highest 40,683 votes in Jai Ram’s home constituency of Seraj.
In stark contrast, barring deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, education minister Rohit Thakur, revenue minister Jagat Singh Negi, chief parliamentary secretary Mohan Lal Brakta, no other ministers or CPS could help boost the party’s vote share.
The party trailed on the home turf of speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Bhattiyat, deputy speaker Vinay Kumar, Sri Renukaji. Even the voters in Sukhu’s own assembly segment Nadaun sided with BJP’s Hamirpur candidate Anurag Thakur, who secured a lead of 2,143 votes.
In health minister Dhaniram Shandil’s Solan segment, Congress’ Shimla candidate Vinod Sultanpuri trailed by 2,317 and by 6,448 votes while in industry minister Harshwardhan Chauhan’s Shillai constituency.
Vikramaditya had romped home from Shimla Rural in the 2022 assembly polls, but the BJP led with 5,873 votes in the Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, the saffron party scored wins in ministers Aniruddh Singh’s Kasumpti, Yadavindra Goma’s Jaisinghpur and Rajesh Dharmani’s Ghumarwin.
BJP’s hat-trick has even surprised political observers “Anurag Thakur’s fifth impressive term, Rajiv Bhardwaj and Kangana’s margins and Suresh Kashyap’s success in retaining his seat shows that a silent, but equally strong Modi factor was also on voters’ mind besides the local issues,” Ramesh K Chauhan, head of the Himachal Pradesh University political Science department, says.
“For Sukhu, and Vikramaditya, the electoral outcome has a message. They need to introspect and re-energise the party’s organisational support and strengthen booth-level party workers. Jai Ram and Anurag Thakur have emerged as the two poles of BJP politics in Himachal and both are equally strong on their home turf. Congress needs leaders with a statewide mass appeal and attraction like the late Virbhadra Singh,” he adds.
By virtue of the bypolls results, the Sukhu government successfully quelled the rebellion that broke out after the February Rajya Sabha polls when six Congress legislators voted for the BJP-backed candidate Harsh Mahajan and later switched to the saffron party.
The rebellion had raised questions over Sukhu’s leadership and cast aspersions on the role of Congress’ state unit chief Pratibha Singh and son Vikramaditya..
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had sent emissaries, Karnataka deputy CM D.K Shiva Kumar and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda to tide over the crisis.
The three-member panel report was critical of Sukhu’s “ignorance” that resulted in the cross-voting and raised questions over Sukhu’s ability to keep his flock together.
Vikramaditya had himself resigned from his ministerial post a day after Congress lost the Rajya Sabha elections. His actions were viewed poorly and party leaders cast doubts over whether he could be relied upon in the future.
Pratibha, the sitting Mandi MP was not fielded from the seat, once a family bastion, and Vikramaditya was instead tasked to retain the seat for the party. She herself was reluctant to contest, but her son on the challenge. His loss, however, is certain to bring some shift in the dynamics.
