Campaigning ends in Pachhad, over to voters

Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan,October 19

Campaigning drew to a close with senior leaders of the BJP and the Congress making a last-ditch effort to garner the support of the electorate in the Pachhad Assembly segment in Sirmaur district today.

The seat had fallen vacant after the election of MLA Suresk Kashyap to the Lok Sabha. An interesting three-cornered contest is on the cards, where BJP rebel Dayal Pyari has the potential of upsetting the poll calculation of both BJP and Congress.

The BJP’s campaign saw all its senior leaders, including Cabinet ministers Mahender Singh, Suresh Bhardwaj and Rajiv Saizal, MP Suresh Kashyap, Sukhram Chaudhary, chairperson, State Women’s Commission, and Daisy Thakur. The went door to door at Rajgarh, highlighting the developmental initiatives of the state and Central governments.

With Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur having addressed four poll rallies and the former Chief Minister, PK Dhumal, too having campaigned in the segment, the BJP is uneasy as overwhelming acceptance for its novice candidate Reena Kashyap is yet not visible across the constituency.

HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore gave the finishing touches to the Congress campaign from Bagh Pashog, the home turf of rebel BJP candidate Dayal Pyari, indicating its significance.

Rathore said the Congress had consolidated its position after the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and that the party was putting up a united fight in contrast to the BJP’s divided house, where a rebel was posing a challenge to the party. He, however, said the State Election Commission had paid no heed to their numerous complaints of poll code violation and apart from serving notices, it had done nothing. The Congress vote share had declined to 42.63 per cent in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections. It had lost the poll by 6,427 votes.

Both BJP and Congress fear their disgruntled cadres could upset their applecart and it remains to be seen who faces major damage. BJP rebel Dayal Pyari is emerging as a formidable challenge to both BJP and Congress.