Unkept promises to influence voting in Nachan, Sundernagar

Dipender Manta

Unfulfilled promises will be key issues in the Nachan and Sundernagar constituencies of Mandi district in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

In the Nachan constituency, both Congress and BJP are plagued by factionalism, making the elections tough for their candidates. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Jabna Chauhan from Nachan. He had earlier served as pradhan of Tharjoon gram panchayat. Two Independent candidates are also in the fray.

According to local residents, the opening of a government Degree College at Hatgarh and the construction of a bus stand at Chail Chowk village in Gohar tehsil were the major demands of the people of area but two-time BJP MLA from Nachan Vinod Kumar has failed to fulfil either of these. As a result, there is resentment among local residents against Vinod Kumar. Besides, BJP rebel Gyan Chand has also filed nomination as an Independent candidate and he will divide the vote bank of the BJP in the constituency.

The Congress, too, is divided in factions in the Nachan constituency. Factionalism in the Congress and the BJP may benefit other candidates.

Nachan has been a BJP stronghold for a long time and it had won the seat six times in 10 elections since 1977. Vinod Kumar won the seat for the first time in 2012 and was re-elected in 2017. In the last Assembly elections, he had defeated his arch rival Congress candidate Lal Singh Kaushal by a margin of 15,896 votes.

In the Sundernagar constituency, BJP MLA Rakesh Jamwal is facing a tough challenge from party rebel Abhishek Thakur, son of former minister Roop Singh Thakur. Roop Singh Thakur had won the seat six times between 1977 and 2007.

The division of BJP votes in the Sundernagar constituency will benefit other candidates.

Potable water has been a long-standing demand of area residents. Jamwal’s efforts bore fruit and the state government provided water supply from the Beas-Sutlej link canal at Sundernagar. However, resentment still prevails among people against Jamwal as they say that polluted water is being supplied to them. Local residents had held protests over the issue.

In January this year, seven persons were killed in Sundernagar after consuming spurious liquor while many had fallen ill. The rampant sale of illicit liquor has emerged as a major poll issue in this constituency. Besides, a highway from Sundernagar to Palasi in Baldwara was proposed but no progress had been made on the project.

Jamwal had won the Sundernagar seat for the first time in 2017 by defeating Congress candidate Sohan Lal Thakur by a margin of 9,263 votes.