Limited influence, but still AAP, Left support to Congress in Himachal can be decisive in close contests

Tribune News Service

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 15

The CPM, CPI and AAP have limited influence in the state but after the formation of the INDIA bloc, these parties are supporting the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections for the first time in the history of Himachal.

The state has long witnessed two parties — Congress and BJP — winning the Assembly elections alternatively and no forceful third front or political alternative has emerged. Barring the occasional rise of a third party like the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) floated by former Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram after his expulsion from the Congress or a breakaway BJP splinter group forming the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) before the 2012 Assembly poll, no major political outfit has emerged as an alternative to these two parties.

AAP had a meagre 1.10 per cent vote share in the 2022 Assembly poll, CPM 0.66 and CPI 0.01 but in a close contest, their support to the Congress could prove to be decisive. Congress candidate Pratibha Singh had won the 2021 Mandi Lok Sabha poll by a slender margin of 8,766 votes.

The CPM, even though confined to Shimla district and a few pockets in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, had sprung a surprise when its firebrand leader Rakesh Singha won the Theog seat with a slender margin of 1,983 votes in the 2017 Assembly elections. Singha had in 1993 won the Shimla (Urban) seat but was unseated following his conviction in a murder case.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, AAP had fielded candidates on all four parliamentary seats. However, barring former BJP minister from Kangra Rajan Sushant, the security deposits of all others, including Kargil hero Capt Vikram Batra’s mother Kamal Kant Batra, who had contested from Hamirpur, were forfeited. AAP did not field its candidates in the 2017 Assembly elections or the Shimla Municipal Corporation poll in 2023.

AAP had desperately tried to gain a foothold in the hill state in the 2022 Assembly poll after winning Punjab but even frequent visits of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab, failed to impress voters. The party candidates secured a mere 1.10 per cent votes in the 2022 Assembly poll.

As for the emergence of an alternative to the Congress and the BJP, the Janata Dal had won eight seats in the 1999 Assembly poll, the HVC had won five seats in the 1993 elections and the HLP won the Kullu seat in the 2012 poll.

Past MLAs of CPM, CPI

• CPM candidate Tara Chand had won the 1962 Assembly election from Jogindernagar in Mandi
• Two CPI candidates Bansi Ram (Baijnath) and Paras Ram (Jaswan) were elected MLAs in the 1967 Assembly elections
• CPI candidate Krishan K Kainth won the 1990 Assembly elections from the Kot Kehloor seat
• CPM leader Rakesh Singha had won the Theog seat with a slender margin of 1,983 votes in the 2017 Assembly elections

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#Congress #INDIA bloc #Lok Sabha #Shimla