Snowfall, bad weather hit campaigning in tribal areas of Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, Bharmour

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, April 29

Inclement weather conditions and snowfall in the higher reaches of the state is impeding the election campaign of candidates in tribal areas of Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur and Bharmour even as the state has been holding single phase polling on all 68 Assembly segments since 2012.

Seeking votes at 10,000 ft height

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• Videos of Bharmour BJP legislator Janak Raj campaigning in snow along with party workers in Pangi area of Bharmour at 10,000 feet has gone viral on social media
• Some parts of Mandi Lok Sabha segment, especially the three Assembly segments of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Bharmour, experienced snowfall in the past two days
• Many higher reaches of Kullu district, which also form part of Mandi Lok Sabha segment, have been witnessing inclement weather conditions, resulting in a dip in mercury

Even though it is not unusual for snowfall in the month of April in the higher reaches this is posing a major challenge to candidates in undertaking their campaign. Koksar in Lahaul Spiti, Chitkul in Kinnaur and Pangi in Chamba also experienced snowfall in the last 48 hours. Apart from the parliamentary polls, six assembly segments of Lahaul Spiti, Dharamsala, Gagret, Kutlehar, Sujanpur and Barsar will go to bypoll on June 1.

Prior to 2012 Assembly polls, polling in the three tribal seats of Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Bharmour was held either prior or after voting in rest of the 65 Vidhan Sabha seat due to these areas being snowbound. It is only after 2012 that elections to all the 68 assembly have been held simultaneously in a single phase. It was for the last time in 2007 elections that voting for three tribal seats were held earlier on November 14 while other 65 segments went to the polls on December 19. In 2003 assembly elections, while polling on 65 seats was held on February 26, the voting took place in the three tribal seats later on June 8.

Videos of Bharmour BJP legislator Janak Raj campaigning in snow along with party workers in Pangi area of Bharmour at 10,000 feet has gone viral on social media. Janak along with party workers can be heard raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram along with party workers, including some women.

Some parts of Mandi Lok Sabha segment, especially the three assembly segments of Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Bharmour, experienced snowfall in the last two days. Many higher reaches of Kullu district which also form part of Mandi Lok Sabha segment have been witnessing inclement weather conditions, resulting in a dip in mercury.

It is in Lahaul Spiti that the political parties and candidates could face problem in campaigning as the higher reaches are experiencing snowfall. Considering incessant rainfall here in the state capital today, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu could not leave for his scheduled election tour. He is schedule to visit Bharmour, Banjar and Karsog assembly segments on May 2-3 to campaign in support of Vikramaditya Singh, Congress candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Sukhu had yesterday visited Lahaul Spiti as the weather had remained clear.