Himachal Bypoll: Two ex-MLAs in fray, tough fight on the cards in Gagret

Rajesh Sharma

Una, May 8

The Gagret seat is one of the six Assembly segments where byelections will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections on June 1. The BJP and the Congress had won the seat twice each in the past four Assembly elections and a tough fight is expected this time.

Prior to 2013, the Gagret seat was reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) but after the delimitation exercise it was declared open while the Chintpurni seat was reserved for SC candidates. The Gagret Assembly segment has 82,884 voters (41,953 male and 40,931 female). As many as 91 polling stations will be set up in the constituency. Ten polling stations have been declared as ‘critical’ where additional security arrangements will be made during the elections.

Chaitanya Sharma had won the 2022 Assembly elections on Congress ticket with a margin of over 15,000 votes. However, he rebelled against the party during the Rajya Sabha elections early this year. The Assembly Speaker disqualified him and five other rebel Congress MLAs, necessitating the byelections.

The Congress has fielded Rakesh Kalia against Chaitanya Sharma, who is fighting the byelection on the BJP ticket. Kalia had joined the BJP after the Congress denied him ticket to fight the 2022 Assembly elections. He had even campaigned against Congress candidate Chaitanya Sharma in the last elections. Kalia had lost to BJP’s Rajesh Thakur in the 2017 state elections.

However, after the BJP gave ticket to Chaitanya Sharma for the Gagret byelection, Kalia rejoined the Congress last month in the office of Rajiv Shukla, AICC general secretary in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. He also managed to secure the Congress ticket for the byelection before returning to Gagret.

In Gagret, both candidates Chaitanya Sharma and Rakesh Kalia have changed sides, leaving the party cadres confused. When the BJP gave ticket to Chaitanya, the Gagret party office-bearers had threatened to resign en masse but the situation was saved following the intervention of senior leaders.

The situation in the Congress in Gagret is the same after Kalia returned to the party fold and secured the Congress ticket. Both candidates are Brahmins, so caste politics do not matter in the byelection.

Both Kalia and Chaitanya are campaigning relentlessly along with senior party leaders. As days pass, the electoral battle in Gagret is beginning to get more intense.

82,884 Total voters

41,953 male 

40,931 female

Third gender: Nil

Polling booths 182

Main candidates in 2024 elections

Chaitanya Sharma BJP

Rakesh Kalia Congress

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#BJP #Congress #Lok Sabha #Una