Himachal Pradesh elections: High-decibel campaign ends

A high-decibel campaign for the Himachal Pradesh elections ended on Thursday evening with the BJP looking to break the state’s political tradition of voting out the incumbent.

A high-decibel campaign for the Himachal Pradesh elections ended on Thursday evening with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looking to break the state’s political tradition of voting out the incumbent  on the back of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and its development agenda, and the Congress hoping to exploit anti-incumbency and its promise of improved delivery to win the hill state.

Union home minister Amit Shah greets BJP supporters during a public meeting for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, at Gurudwara Paonta Sahib, in Sirmour on Thursday. (Amit Shah/Twitter)

The final day of campaign saw Union minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda addressing rallies in Sirmour and Kangra districts and the Congress organising “Vijay Ashirwaad” (blessing for victory) rallies in all 68 assembly segments. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed a public meeting at Sirmour and took part in door-to-door campaigning in the state capital of Shimla.

Himachal Pradesh, where the two national parties have swapped power since 1982,  goes to the polls on Saturday.

The BJP’s campaign, led by Modi and Shah, revolved around projecting the strength of its double-engine growth  ( a reference to the BJP being in power both at the Centre and in the state) and development projects undertaken by the state with the Centre’s backing. The Congress focussed on 10 guarantees if it came back to power, including the restoration of the old pension scheme, 500,000 jobs and ₹1,500 a month to women.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is making its election debut, announced plans to replicate its Delhi model of free electricity to low consumption users in the state.

In his rallies, Shah targeted the Congress and appealed to the voters to bring back the BJP back to power in the state, he said: “The double engine government has scripted history in development in every sector.”  

“Congress has Maa-Beta (mother-son) there and here too,” Shah said, in an apparent reference to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi and state party chief Pratibha Singh and her son Vikramaditya Singh. “It is a parivarvadi (dynastic) party, in which there is no place for hardworking people. If you have to move ahead in this party, you need to be born in a prominent family”  The Congress focussed on problems of employment.  Addressing a public rally in Sirmour, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the BJP-led government of “snatching jobs” from the youth of the state and “increasing inflation”.  

“There are 30 lakh (three million) young people in Himachal Pradesh, and half of them are unemployed. This at a time when government posts lie vacant in the state,” she alleged. “This government has snatched jobs and increased inflation.”