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Solan leaders once dominated Congress bastion Shimla LS segment

Photo for representation. File photo

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, March 20

Solan district has dominated the Shimla Lok Sabha (SC) seat for decades with candidates of various political parties emerging victorious. However, this Congress stronghold was broken in 2009 when BJP candidate Virender Kashyap from Sirmaur won the seat.

The Shimla parliamentary seat had been an impregnable Congress bastion. Congress’ senior leader Krishan Dutt Sultanpuri, a resident of the Kasauli Assembly segment in Solan district, reigned supreme here from 1980 to 1998. He established a record of winning six consecutive Lok Sabha elections in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996 and 1998. No woman has ever represented the seat. Known for his political acumen, Sultanpuri dominated the political arena in the Shimla constituency for nearly two decades, giving little space to any other leader. His son Vinod Sultanpuri is a first-term MLA from Kasauli at present.

26.5% SC population
Shandil, Sultanpuri, Virender Kashyap and Suresh Kashyap all belong to the dominant Koli caste, which is considered the key reason for their repeated victories.
Shandil, Suresh Kashyap and Virender Kashyap are relatives and the same family has dominated the Shimla Lok Sabha seat since 2009.
As much as 26.51 per cent of the population of the Shimla Lok Sabha constituency comprises the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. In Solan, the SC community’s population is 28.35 per cent while in Sirmaur, this count is 30.34%.

Dr Col Dhani Ram Shandil (retd), who also belongs to Solan, won the Shimla parliamentary seat on the Himachal Vikas Congress ticket in 1999 defeating Congress candidate Gangu Ram Musafir, who hailed from Sirmaur district. Shandil broke the Congress monopoly and won the seat. He later joined the Congress and won the seat for the second time on the party ticket in 2004.

Shandil, however, lost the seat to BJP’s Virender Kashyap, a resident of Solan, in 2009, marking the BJP’s first victory in this hitherto Congress bastion. Suresh Kashyap, who belongs to Sirmaur, won the Lok Sabha election from Shimla in 2014. This marked the end of the dominance of Solan after the BJP fielded Sirmaur’s Suresh Kashyap to the fight the Lok Sabha election from Shimla. The BJP has again reposed faith in Kashyap and given him ticket this time as well while the Congress is yet to declare its candidate.

The BJP’s vote share has risen exponentially over the years, hinting at its growing dominance since 2009. From securing 3,10,946 votes in 2009, the BJP went on to grab 3,85,973 votes in 2014. The party polled a record 6,06,182 votes in the Shimla constituency in 2019. Its vote share increased from 28.1 per cent in 2009 to 33.47 per cent in 2014 and to 66.24 per cent in 2019.

The Congress’ vote share, which stood at 49.31 per cent in 1998, reduced to poor 25.63 per cent in 2009 though it fielded two-time MP Shandil. The Congress registered a slight improvement in the vote share to 26.17 per cent in 2014 when it gave ticket to Mohan Lal Brakta, who belonged to Shimla district. In 2019, too, there was slight improvement in the Congress’ vote share to 30.45 per cent but it could not win the Shimla seat though it had fielded Shandil again.

The Shimla seat was carved out of of the Mandi-Mahasu Lok Sabha constituency as a reserved seat in 1967. Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had secured a thumping victory from Mahasu in 1962. The constituency was later rechristened as Shimla (SC) in 1967.

Comprises 17 Assembly segments

Rohru, Chopal, Jubbal-Kotkhai, Theog, Kasumpti, Shimla (Urban), Shimla (Rural); Arki, Solan, Doon, Nalagarh and Kasauli (Solan); Nahan, Paonta Sahib, Pachhad, Renuka, Shillai (Sirmaur)

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