From Jairam Thakur to Vikramaditya Singh, how the big names in Himachal Pradesh are faring thus far

While the BJP’s Jairam Thakur won his Mandi seat and Congress’ Mukesh Agnihotri continues to lead in Haroli, the fate of many others remains up for grabs.

The Congress is well on its way to ousting the incumbent BJP.

The grand old party has surged ahead of the BJP with leads in  39 out of the 68 constituency seats while the ruling party at the Centre has secured 26 leads and has won one seat so far.

Also read: How are exit polls conducted in India? How accurate are they?

Let’s take a closer look at how the big names are faring in the Himachal Pradesh polls 2022:

Jairam Thakur (BJP)

Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has secured his seat in Mandi’s Seraj constituency which is a BJP stronghold. After first winning this seat in 1998, Thakur has established it as his home base.

In 2017, Thakur defeated Congress candidate Chet Ram Thakur by over 11,000 votes. He received a total of 35,519 votes, while Chet Ram received 24,265 votes.

Similarly, in the 2012 polls, Congress had fielded Tara Thakur who was defeated by the now outgoing Chief Minister by 5,752 votes.

Mukesh Agnihotri (Congress)

Mukesh Agnihotri, Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, is leading the race against BJP’s Ram Kumar. The former journalist has held this seat since 2003 and is considered one of the grand old party’s prospects for chief minister.

Earlier this year, the saffron party put faith again in its state spokesperson, Ram Kumar to contest against Agnihotri, who in 2017 lost 7,377 votes.

Sukhwinder Sukhu (Congress)

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, a former president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, is fighting to retain his Nadaun seat against BJP candidate Vijay Agnihotri.

Sukhu, who had defeated Vijay Agnihotri in the previous 2017 Assembly election by a margin of just 2,349 votes, is in the lead yet again.

Notably, the Hamirpur district’s Nadaun is significant to the BJP because it is the home district of BJP leaders former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son and Union minister Anurag Thakur.

Vikramaditya Singh (Congress)

Another prominent Congress contender is Vikramaditya Singh, son of late six-time Congress chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

Vikramaditya is running for re-election in Shimla Rural, which comes under the Shimla district.

He is leading the race against BJP’s Ravi Mehta.

In the 2017 Assembly election, Vikramaditya defeated BJP’s Pramod Sharma by 4,880 votes.

Asha Kumari (Congress)

Congress candidate Asha Kumari is trailing the BJP’s DS Thakur in the race from Dalhousie which comes under the Chamba district.

In the 2017 Assembly election, Kumari won by defeating Thakur by a margin of just 556 votes.

She won this seat in 1985, 1993, 1998 and 2003.

In 2007, BJP’s Renu Chadha secured the seat.

Kumari contested again and won the seat in 2012 and again in the 2017 elections. In the previous election, she received a majority of 24,224 votes, while  Thakur received 23,668 votes.

Rajiv Saizal (BJP)

Himachal Pradesh’s health minister Rajiv Saizal is another prominent BJP figure contesting for re-election in Kasauli, which comes under the Solan district.

Saizal’s opponent, Congress’ Vinod Sultanpuri is in the lead.

BJP won the election in 2017, with Saizal defeating Sultanpuri by a narrow margin of 442 votes.

Rakesh Singha (CPI(M))

Rakesh Singha is an MLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s from Shimla’s Theog constituency.

Singha is trailing BJP’s Ajay Shyam and Congress’ Kuldeep Singh Rathore.

Notably, Rathore is contesting against Singha for the first time.

Suresh Bharadwaj (BJP)

Minister for Urban Development Suresh Bharadwaj, who is contesting from Kasumpti constituency in Shimla, was defeated by Congress’ Anirudh Singh by 8,655 votes.

The BJP had shifted Bhardwaj to Kasumpti, an urban-rural mix constituency which has not elected a BJP member in 20 years, from the Shimla (Urban) seat.

The Minister was elected for the first time to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in 1990 from the Shimla constituency and was re-elected in 2007 and has since held on to the seat.

Dhaniram Shandil (Congress)

Congress veteran leader Dhaniram Shandil defeated his BJP rival and son-in-law, Rajesh Kashyap, from Solan Assembly in a rematch from 2017.

The retired army colonel Shandil is one of the oldest candidates in the polls.

Shandil in 2017 squeaked by Kashyap, who had then contested from Solan for the first time, by 670 votes.

With inputs from agencies

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