Explained: 5 reasons why Congress has won Mandi Lok Sabha Seat

Mandi bypoll results: The issue of inflation played out in a big way in the Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll, with electors venting ire against rising prices of fuel and essential commodities.

Two-time MP Pratibha Singh. (Twitter/Pratibha Singh)

On Tuesday, Congress candidate Pratibha Singh won the byelection for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh. The electoral battle had revolved around the issue of price rise, with Singh also invoking the memory of her husband, the popular former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who passed away this summer.

Here are the factors that worked in favour of Pratibha Singh.

A SYMPATHY VOTE: Singh, 65, who had earlier entered Lok Sabha following the election of 2004 and a parliamentary byelection in 2013, had returned to the voters of Mandi seeking their support in the name of “Raja Saheb” Virbhadra Singh, a six-time, 21-year Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, five-time member of Lok Sabha, and a former minister in the Government of India. Virbhadra 87, died of post-Covid complications in July, and the vote for his wife was to a significant extent the “shradhanjali” of his supporters for him.

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INFLATION: The issue of inflation played out in a big way during the campaign period with electors venting their anger over rising prices of fuel and essential commodities. In a state where everything has to be transported by road, the prices of diesel which been going up on a daily basis is impacting the budgets of the common man.

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— Pratibha Virbhadra Singh (@virbhadrasingh) November 2, 2021

ANTI-INCUMBENCY: With Himachal Pradesh going to the polls next November, the bypoll was being seen as referendum on the working of BJP government in the state. In fact, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur represents Seraj constituency within Mandi district. The mood on the ground was that voters were going to look at overall performance, which did not seem to favour the government.

FOUR-LANING ISSUE: BJP nominee Brigadier Khushal Thakur (retd) seems to have paid heavily over the issue of four-laning the highway to Manali. He had taken on the then Congress government over the issue many times in the past and was seen to be soft-pedalling after BJP came back to power. Voters here now think the BJP leader has given up the case for better compensation for those affected after the BJP government in Himachal Pradesh appointed him chairman-cum-MD of the State Ex-Servicemen Corporation.

FARMERS’ STIR: Raising the “year-long farm protest at Delhi borders” Pratibha Singh has been targeting the Modi government through the campaign. The electors too were clear that the farmers’ agitation would cause political damage to BJP.

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