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Rebels rocked the boat for BJP, Congress on 12 seats in HP
There were a total of 99 independents in the poll fray, of whom 28 were rebels—21 of BJP and seven of Congress
Wrong ticket distribution by the BJP weighed heavy on its prospects of repeating the government as rebels queered the pitch for the Saffron Party candidates in at least eight seats, while Congress too lost on four seats due to dissenters who jumped the poll fray as independents.
There were a total of 99 independents in the poll fray, of whom 28 were rebels—21 of BJP and seven of Congress.
The three independents who made it to the 14th state assembly are BJP rebels. KL Thakur, a former BJP legislator, has been re-elected. He defeated his nearest rival, Hardeep Singh Bawa of Congress by a margin of over 13,000 votes. Former Congress legislator Lakhwinder Singh Rana, who contested on a BJP ticket, remained in the third position. KL Thakur won the 2012 election on a BJP ticket but lost in 2017.
Hoshyar Singh, who had joined BJP in June this year and was vying for the party ticket only to be denied at the last moment. Singh, who won the 2017 election as an independent from Dehra, was backed by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur but the party denied him a ticket as reportedly the union information and the broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur was against his candidature. Singh defeated his nearest rival Congress’ Rajesh Sharma by 3,877 votes, while BJP’s Ramesh Dhawala slipped to the third position.
Independent MLA Ashish Sharma, who won the Hamirpur seat, was also in BJP before joining Congress ahead of the assembly polls after being denied a ticket. However, Congress also denied him a ticket, after which he jumped the poll fray as an independent.
Sharma defeated Congress’ Dr Pushpinder Verma by nearly 13,000 votes, and here also the BJP candidate remained in the third position.
Rebels also queered the pitch for BJP in Kinnaur, Kullu, Dharamshala and Indora. In Kinnaur, former BJP legislator Tejwant Singh Negi jumped into the poll fray as an independent after BJP gave the ticket to Surat Negi. He secured 8,574 votes (19.25%) which is more than the Congress candidate Jagat Singh Negi’s winning margin of 6,964.
In Kullu, the BJP dropped former MP and ex-state president Maheshwar Singh from the candidates’ list replacing him with Narotam Singh after the former’s son Hiteshwar Singh jumped the poll fray as independent from Banjar.
Another aspirant for BJP’s ticket from Kullu, Ram Singh, filed his nomination as an independent from Kullu and polled 11,937 votes (16.77%) which eventually led to BJP candidate Narotam Singh’s defeat in the hands of sitting Congress MLA Sunder Singh Thakur by a margin of 4,103 votes.
BJP rebel Vipin Singh Nehria polled 7,416 votes in the Dharamshala constituency which was much higher than the Congress candidate Sudhir Sharma’s winning margin of 3,285.
In the Indora assembly segment, former legislator Manohar Dhiman revolted against BJP and secured 4,394 votes which caused BJP candidate Rita Dhiman’s defeat in the hands of Congress’ Malender Rajan by 2,250 votes. Dhiman had won the 2012 election as an independent. He joined BJP before the 2017 election but was denied a ticket. However, the BJP had managed to placate him at that time.
Congress faced a defeat at four seats Sullah, Anni, Chopal and Pacchad due to rebels. The contest was between BJP and Independents in Sullah and Anni while Congress slipped to the third position.
In Sullah, Congress rebel and former MLA Jagjiwan Paul lost to BJP’s Vipin Singh Parmar by 7,117 votes. Pal polled 29,558 votes against Parmar’s 36,670 while Congress’ official candidate Jagdish Chand Sapehia forfeited his deposit as he could secure only 6,828 votes.
In the Anni assembly segment, BJP’s Lokender Kumar defeated Congress rebel Paras Ram by 6,778 votes while Congress’ Bansi Lal polled 13,699 votes and remained in the third position.
Congress rebels Gangu Ram Musafir polled 12,946 votes (21.46%) due to which the party’s official candidate Dayal Payari lost to BJP’s sitting legislator Reena Kashyap by a margin of 3,857 votes.
In Chopal former two-term legislator Subhash Manglet secured 13,706 votes (22.03%) which led to the defeat of Congress Rajneesh Kimta, the state organizing secretary of the party, by a margin of 5,033 votes.
Manglet had won from Chopal in 2007 and 2012 but lost in 2017. Though independents have failed to make an impact on most occasions there are some exceptions where they held the key to the formation of the government.
