BJP draws blank in Solan, Congress gets 4

Solan, December 8

The BJP couldn’t win even one seat in Solan district. The Congress won in the four constituencies while one seat was bagged by an Independent.

In a major embarrassment for the BJP, its two candidates, who are present MLAs from Nalagarh and Arki, finished third.

In Nalagarh, BJP rebel and Independent candidate KL Thakur won the seat by a margin of 13,264. He polled 33,427 votes while Congress candidate Hardeep Bawa got 20,163 votes. BJP’s Lakhwinder Rana secured 17,273 and was second runner up. AAP’s Dharam Pal Thakur only got 1,108 votes in the constituency.

Lakhwinder Rana, who was the sitting Congress MLA, had joined the BJP just before the Model Code of Conduct was enforced in the state. He had won by a margin of 1,242 votes in 2017. But the decision to give party ticket to Rana failed to yield dividend as the BJP ignored popular appeal of KL Thakur.

In Arki, Congress’ sitting MLA Sanjay Awasthy registered his second consecutive victory with a comfortable margin 4,822 votes. He polled 30,897 votes against 26,075 polled by Independent Rajinder, BJPs’s Govind Ram got 13,444. Awasthy had won the seat in last year’s by-election by 3,219 votes.

In a big upset, Dr Rajiv Saizal, Health and Family Welfare Minister, lost from the Kasauli Assembly segment to Congress candidate Vinod Sultanpuri by a margin of 6,768 votes. Sultanpuri got 28,200 votes while Saizal secured 21,432. Sultanpuri registered his maiden victory after losing two consecutive polls.

In Solan, Congress candidate DR Shandil won the seat for the third consecutive term by a margin of 3,858 votes. He defeated his son-in-law Rajesh Kashyap. Shandil got 30,089 votes while Kashyap secured 26,231. Absence of a regular commissioner at Solan Municipal Corporation and failure to fulfil the poll promises proved dear to the BJP. Shandil had won the seat in 2017 by 671 votes.

In the Doon segment, Congress candidate Ram Kumar humbled BJP’s sitting MLA Paramjeet Singh by 6,811 votes. Ram Kumar polled 32,038 votes while Paramjeet Singh got 25,227 votes. The deteriorating law and order situation in the Doon segment and failure to address civic amenity issues proved dear to the BJP. Paramjeet Singh won the seat in 2017.