Himachal Votes, In An Election Fought In The Shadow Of Two Leaders Not In The Fray First Time In 3 Decades

Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: The contest in most places seems to be bipolar this time, though the AAP tried to emerge as the third player.

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh is voting to elect a new government. For the first time in three decades, two political stalwarts of state politics are not in the fray — former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, the veteran Congress leader who passed away last year, and BJP leader and two-time CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, who lost the 2017 election as the sitting CM and is not contesting this time around. 

But the shadow of these two leaders loomed large throughout the campaign for the 68 seats up for grabs. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has tried to emerge as the third player in Himachal, but the contest in most places seems to be bipolar.  

A Congress Campaign Without Rahul Gandhi

Though the Congress did not project a CM candidate, all party banners and posters prominently carried Virbhadra Singh’s picture conspicuously. In his absence, the list of probable candidates grew to half a dozen and more with former state president Sukhwinder Singh Sukkhu and Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri throwing their caps in the ring. 

Virbhadra Singh’s wife and Lok Sabha MP from Mandi Pratibha Singh too remains in contention. Congress’s strategy has been to keep everyone interested so no one plays the spoilsport.

The Congress’s election affairs in Himachal Pradesh have been managed by Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. Learning from its past mistakes, the party has sought to keep its campaign localised. 

It is for the first time since his formal entry into politics that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has not addressed a single rally in a state poll. 

The party has consciously sought to underscore local issues like the revival of the old pension scheme, issues related to apple growers, the Agniveer scheme for Army recruitments, inflation et al. 

The sum and substance of the Congress’s effort in Himanchal revolved around one factor — keep the election provincial and not national. In this vein, most leaders also refrained from making a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

CM Jairam Thakur Will Create History If…

For the BJP, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur would be making history if he is able to win another term in office. That’s a feat no other political leader has been able to achieve in the hill state till date. 

But he faces an onerous task, both from within his party and outside.

The BJP’s decision to deny tickets to 11 sitting MLAs has had its repercussions. In a state where most of the seats are decided by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes, the BJP has had to grapple with widespread revolt in its ranks with more than a dozen rebel candidates in the fray. The Congress with six rebels is placed comparatively better. 

Himanchal is one state where BJP national president JP Nadda has had a larger say in deciding political matters. But the Dhumal factor continues to play in the backdrop despite the former CM not contesting the polls. 

Dhumal senior and his son and Union minister Anurag Thakur have their own support base within the party rank and file. Jairam Thakur’s elevation as CM in 2017 was also due to the fact that Prem Kumar Dhumal lost his own election to one of his former aides. He may not be in the contest this time, but the sedimentary effect of the Dhumal factor is palpable. The BJP has tried to keep the former CM in good humour by accommodating a few of his supporters.

In the last five years, CM Jairam Thakur had sought to build his image around some big-ticket projects like bringing in IIT, IIM, and AIIMS to the state. Elections galvanising around local and hyper-local issues pose the biggest challenge to the BJP. 

The party has tried to hard-sell some of its welfare schemes to the electorate like Him Care and Sahara schemes, which provide monetary assistance to critically ill patients. The state government has also reduced bus fares for women in government transport. 

The Congress, meanwhile, is promising to revive the Old Pension Scheme and offer 300 units of free power per month to every household. In a state where more than 1.9 lakh government employees often decide the political outcome, the BJP’s line on ‘revadi-culture’ would be put to a strong electoral test. 

The BJP’s biggest strength in this election remains its committed vote base and organisational bulwark.

The author is an independent journalist who writes on politics and policy.

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