Constituency Watch Kutlehar: Congress ex-MLA’s son Vivek Sharma to take on turncoat Davinder Bhutto in a close contest

Rajesh Sharma

Una, May 9

The Congress had wrested the Kutlehar Assembly seat from the BJP in the 2022 elections after a gap of 32 years. However, the Assembly byelection will be held on the seat along with the Lok Sabha elections on June 1 after Congress MLA Davinder Bhutto shifted loyalty and joined the BJP this year.

The Congress rout in the elections 1990 onwards ended in 2022 when its candidate Bhutto defeated four-time MLA and sitting BJP minister Virender Kanwar by a margin of 7,579 votes.

While Janata Dal’s Ranjit Singh was Kutlehar MLA for two and a half years from 1990 to 1993, Ram Dass Malangar and Virender Kanwar of the BJP had won the seat in six consecutive Assembly elections from 1993 to 2022.

However, while the Congress could not win the seat for seven consecutive elections, its vote bank remained almost intact in all these years. The BJP had won the seat by a margin of only three votes in the 1998 elections, 972 votes in 1993 and 1,692 votes in the 2012 elections.

First-time MLA Davinder Bhutto was among the six Congress MLAs who had rebelled and voted against the party candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections. The Speaker later disqualified them from the Assembly.

After the BJP announced Bhutto’s induction into the party, four-time MLA Virender Kanwar, along with Kutlehar block BJP leaders, boycotted the first public meeting of the BJP in the constituency. Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had addressed the meeting to welcome Bhutto into the BJP. However, Kanwar had later stated that he would shoulder any responsibility that the BJP leadership gives him.

The Congress has fielded Vivek Sharma from the seat this time. Vivek has a political background. His father Ram Nath Sharma was the Congress MLA of Kutlehar from 1985 to 1990. He subsequently contested three elections from Kutlehar but could not win. Vivek had contested the 2017 Assembly elections against Virender Kanwar but lost by a margin of 5,606 votes.

While Bhutto is a Rajput and Vivek is a Brahmin, caste equations do not matter much as candidates from both castes have represented the segment.

Both Congress and BJP have large stakes in the segment. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri have campaigned in favour of the Congress candidate here. BJP candidate for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat Anurag Thakur and Congress candidate Satpal Raizada have also toured the constituency more than once to seek votes.

Both Vivek Sharma and Davinder Bhutto are young candidates and are going from house to house to contact the electors despite the fact that Kutlehar is geographically a very big and tough constituency. It has small habitations located in far-flung hilly areas and walking in the extreme summer heat is an uphill task.

The rival parties are using all tactics and mobilisation skills to woo voters. Social media platforms are agog with political posts, leading to gossips at public places. As the date for voting comes close, star campaigners will come calling in the segment to woo voters.

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