Wresting Shimla LS seat from BJP tough task for Congress

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, March 21

It is a Herculean task for the Congress to wrest the Shimla Lok Sabha seat from the BJP though it has MLAs representing 13 of the 17 seats falling in the parliamentary constituency in Solan, Sirmaur and Shimla districts.

• Taking a lead, the BJP has again fielded Suresh Kashyap, who belongs to Sirmaur district.
• Kashyap had won the seat in 2019 with a huge margin of 3,27,514 votes.
• He bagged 66.24% votes compared to 30.45% votes secured by Congress candidate Dhani Ram Shandil
• The Congress is pondering over the names of candidates such as Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri, Amit Nanda, who heads the party’s Scheduled Caste cell, Dyal Pyari, who had unsuccessfully contested the Vidhan Sabha election from the Pachhad segment, Yashpal Tanaik, a former zila parishad member, and Kushal Mungta, HPCC spokesperson
• There are slim chances that the Congress will field Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri given the precarious political scenario in the state. However, a family member of Sultanpuri could be a probable candidate for the Shimla seat

The opposition BJP has only three MLAs while there is an Independent MLA (Nalagarh) in the Shimla constituency. The BJP has no MLA in Solan district but has two MLAs representing Pachhad and Paonta Sahib seats in Sirmaur district and only one MLA from the Chopal seat in Shimla. The pattern of voting in the Lok Sabha elections is usually starkly different but the BJP is hoping to retain the Shimla seat for the fourth consecutive time.

BJP’s sitting MP Suresh Kashyap had won the seat in 2019 with a huge margin of 3,27,514 votes. He bagged 66.24 per cent votes compared to 30.45 per cent votes secured by Congress candidate Dhani Ram Shandil.

Taking a lead, the BJP has again fielded Suresh Kashyap, who belongs to Sirmaur district. The Congress is yet to finalise its candidate to challenge a well-entrenched Kashyap.

In the past, the victorious candidates in the Shimla constituency hailed from Solan and Sirmaur districts. The Congress is pondering over the names of candidates such as Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri, Amit Nanda, who heads the party’s Scheduled Caste cell, Dyal Pyari, who had unsuccessfully contested the Vidhan Sabha election from Pachhad, Yashpal Tanaik, a former zila parishad member, and Kushal Mungta, HPCC spokesperson.

There are slim chances that the Congress will field Vinod Sultanpuri given the precarious political scenario in the state. However, a family member of Sultanpuri could be a probable candidate for the Shimla seat, according to party sources, as their father Krishan Dutt Sultanpuri has an unbeatable record of victories in six consecutive Lok Sabha elections.

The Shimla seat has been a Congress bastion that it had won for six consecutive terms from 1980 to 1998. The BJP has maintained its stronghold over the seat that it has won for three terms. The party is hopeful of winning it again and is banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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