Himachal Pradesh Lok Sabha Election Phase 7: Key candidates and battles to watch out for
Himachal Pradesh Lok Sabha Election Phase 7: The BJP won all the four seats in the state in 2014 and 2019 elections.
Himachal Pradesh will vote for all the four seats in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Friday, June 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking a hat-trick of winning all the four seats in the polls.
The ruling Congress is hoping to translate its 2022 assembly poll victory into a Lok Sabha poll success in all the four seats of Kangra, Hamirpur, Mandi and Shimla.
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According to the data shared by the Election Commission, there are over 1.70 lakh voters across the state aged between 18 and 19 years who will be voting for the first time.
Here are the key battles in the four Lok Sabha constituencies of Himachal Pradesh to watch out for:-
Mandi
Mandi is among the high-profile constituencies to watch out for in the ongoing general election. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut, who is pitted against Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh. The constituency is currently represented by Vikramaditya Singh's mother Pratibha Singh. "Maximum work in the constituency revolves around highways and tunnels and after winning, I would be working the most with Nitin Gadkari," Ranaut had told told ANI.
On the other hand, Vikramaditya Singh hit out at Ranaut, saying she has no understanding or dedication to the issue of the state. “There are 14 lakh daughters in Himachal Pradesh. So many of them studied and became IAS, IFS, etc. Some of them are into sports as well, and this lady (Kangana Ranaut) is also one of them. But when it comes to Himachal, she has no connection to Himachal's issues, understanding, or history; she has no dedication or understanding about the issues,” he had said.
Hamirpur
The Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat will witness a contest between four-time MP Anurag Thakur and Congress leader Satpal Singh Raizada. The constituency is a bastion of the BJP, with Thakur's father Prem Kumar Dhumal also having won from here. In 2019,Thakur secured victory by garnering 682,692 votes (69 per cent) while Congress' Ram Lal Thakur secured 283,120 votes (28.6 per cent). Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Desh Raj came third with 7,095 votes (0.7 per cent).
Kangra
Former Union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma is contesting from Kangra. He is facing BJP's Dr Rajeev Bharadwaj, the nephew of former chief minister Shanta Kumar. In the 2019 polls, sitting BJP MP Kishan Kapoor, who is not in good health, had defeated Congress's Pawan Kajal by a margin of 4,77,623 votes.
Shimla
The Shimla constituency is set for a fierce contest as the BJP and Congress have fielded their sitting MP and MLA respectively. The Congress has fielded Vinod Sultanpuri, the sitting MLA from Kasauli and son of six-time MP Krishan Dutt Sultanpuri from the Shimla seat. He will take on the sitting MP and former BJP state president, Suresh Kashyap. Out of fourteen Lok Sabha elections since 1967, Congress has won the seat nine times, BJP thrice, and Janata Party and Himachal Vikas Congress once each.
The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
(With agency inputs)