Himachal gears up for counting of votes for LS, assembly bypolls

Shimla: Union minister Anurag Thakur, actor Kangana Ranaut, four-time RS MP Anand Sharma and sitting Public Works minister Vikramaditya Singh are the bigwigs to watch for in the four Lok Sabha and six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh where counting will be taken up on Tuesday.

While four-time MP and BJP candidate Thakur is seeking a fifth term from Hamirpur, the other party candidate Ranaut, who has entered the political arena for the first time, is trying her luck from Mandi. Former BJP state president Suresh Kashyap is contesting from Shimla.

Among the prominent Congress candidates are four-time Rajya Sabha MP Sharma from Kangra seat and scion of erstwhile Rampur estate Vikramaditya Singh, who is son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh from Mandi seat.

The fate of 62 candidates will be known after the counting process at over 70 centres across the state.

According to officials of the state election department, the Kangra parliamentary seat recorded 67.89 per cent polling, Mandi 73.15 per cent, Hamirpur 71. 56 percent and the Shimla (SC) seat 71.26 percent.

Of the six assembly constituencies where bypolls were held simultaneously, Dharamshala recorded a turnout of 71.2 per cent, Lahaul and Spiti 75.09 per cent, Sujanpur 73.76 per cent, Barsar 71.69 per cent, Gagret 75.14per cent and Kutlehar 76.89 per cent.

The six assembly seats, where the bypolls were held, fell vacant after the disqualification of six Congress legislators for defying a party whip to vote in favour of the government during the budget.

The Congress won all Lok Sabha seats in Himachal in elections held in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1980, 1984 and 1996.The party won three seats in 2004, two in 1991 and one each in 1989 and 2009, before losing all seats in 1977, 1999, 2014 and 2019.

The Janata Party and the BJP-Himachal Vikas Congress swept the polls in 1977 and 1999 respectively, while the BJP made a clean sweep in 2014 and 2019.

During the campaign, the Congress focused on the issue of discrimination with the state during last year's monsoon disaster and attempt of the BJP to topple the government, while the BJP highlighted the 'failures' of the Congress in fulfilling poll guarantees its plank.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu dubbed the Congress rebels as 'bikau' (sold out) and 'kale nags' (black snakes) and called upon the voters to punish them, while BJP candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat termed Rahul Gandhi and his party candidate Vikramaditya Singh as 'bada papu' and 'chota papu'.

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