Himachal bypolls: BJP yet to send its candidate to Lahaul and Spiti as senior leader Markanda’s rebellion gets stronger

Dr Markanda announced on March 26 that he is resigning from BJP and will contest the bypolls independently from Lahaul and Spiti on the day when BJP decided to field Thakur.

“Senior BJP leaders have decided to not send its candidate Ravi Thakur to Lahaul and Spiti considering the resentment among the local cadre and leader Dr Ram Lal Markanda. Markanda cannot be taken lightly. He has a hold on the BJP workers in his constituency, which was represented by him many times.”

The six ex-MLAs joined the BJP on March 23 following their disqualification by the Assembly Speaker. In a blow to the Congress-led state government, they had crossvoted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections held last month.

Five BJP candidates out of the six, reached their respective constituencies of Sujanpur, Gagret, Barsar, Kutlehar and Dharamshala on Thursday and were accompanied by senior BJP leaders.

On the day when Congress turncoat Ravi Thakur was announced the BJP candidate, Thakur opened a front against the state BJP leadership. He had threatened to contest the bypoll either independently or from another political party.

Though Himachal BJP president Dr Rajeev Bindal, maintained that he has personally talked to Markanda and national president J P Nadda also conveyed his concern to him, sources maintained that the Congress leaders are in constant touch with the BJP rebel.

Other five candidates including Chaitayna Sharma (Gagret), Rajinder Singh Rana (Sujanpur), Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar) and Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala) reached their respective constituencies. Sharma was accompanied by former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

BJP MLAs Vikram Thakur and Rakesh Jambwal and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Sikandar Kumar are accompanying Rajinder Rana, Devinder Kumar Bhutto and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal respectively, while BJP president Dr Bindal, escorted Sudhir Sharma who is highly vocal against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to Dharamshala.

Addressing the gathering, Sudhir Sharma became emotional and tears started rolling down. He targeted Sukhu recalling a previous incident at the same place when the CM declined to hold his hand during a function held immediately after the Congress win in the 2022 election.

“We were humiliated so much by the Congress government. There are many other MLAs in the Congress who want to leave the party,” Sharma said.

A look at voting pattern of 6 Assembly constituencies:

Sujanpur (Part of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency)

In 2022, Rajinder Singh Rana had won with a narrow margin of 399, defeating BJP’s Ranjeet Singh who had secured 27,280 votes. Rana secured 27,679 votes out of a total 55,597 votes.

In 2017, Rana had defeated BJP senior leader and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal with a margin of 1,919 votes. Dhumal had bagged 23,369 votes.

Barsar (Part of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency)

Inder Dutt Lakhanpal has been on a winning streak by setting a hat-trick in the constituency. In 2012, he defeated Baldev Sharma of BJP by 2,658 votes. In 2017 he again defeated BJP’s Baldev Sharma with a margin of 439 votes. In 2022 he defeated BJP candidate Maya Sharma with a margin of 13,792 votes.

Gagret (part of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency)

Former Congress legislator Chaitanya Sharma won in the 2022 Assembly election with a margin of 15,685 votes defeating BJP’s Rajesh Thakur who had secured 25,082 votes. However, in 2017, Thakur won with a margin of 9,320 votes defeating Congress candidate Rajesh Kalia, who had secured 24,657 votes.

Kutlehar (part of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency)

Congress rebel Devinder Kumar Bhutto won the 2022 Assembly elections by 7,579 votes, defeating BJP candidate Virender Kanwar who had received 29,057 votes. Bhutto had secured 36,636 votes. In 2017, Kanwar had won the seat with 31,101 votes by a margin of 5,606. He had defeated Congress candidate Vivek Sharma, who had secured 25,495 votes.

Dharamshala (Part of Kangra Lok Sabha constituency)

Sudhir Sharma won from Dharamshala in 2022 elections with a margin of 3,285 votes defeating BJP’s Rakesh Choudhary. Sharma had received 27,323 votes. In 2017, BJP’s Vishal Nehria had won the seat defeating an independent Rakesh Kumar with a margin of 6,758 votes. In 2017 also, BJP had won the seat fielding its candidate Kishan Kapoor, who had secured 26,050 votes.

Lahaul and Spiti (Part of Mandi Lok Sabha constituency)

The rebel, Ravi Thakur, had won the 2022 Assembly election with a margin of 1,616 votes, defeating BJP’s Dr Ram Lal Markanda. The total votes polled were 18,801. In 2017, Markanda had defeated Ravi Thakur with a margin of 478 votes. At that time total votes were polled 17,121.