Himachal polls: Fresh off Delhi battering, Congress looks to save face, BJP to nose ahead

A BJP win would make history, as Himachal Pradesh has never voted a party back to power again since the 1980s. A defeat would bust its confidence regarding digging itself out of any hole on the strength of Narendra Modi’s popularity. True to its style of campaigning, the BJP spared no big guns in its arsenal, even as the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were occupied with poll-bound Gujarat. Its campaign called Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan included five Central ministers, and three chief ministers. UP CM Yogi Adityanath held 15 rallies over a span of four days.

A Congress win would prove a life-saver for the party that was trounced in the civic poll results in Delhi on Wednesday, and which is set to perform worse than last time in Gujarat. A loss would be debilitating, with the nascent fissures in the Congress state unit set to rise to the surface again. Bharat Jodo Yatri Rahul Gandhi stayed completely away from the contest, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took up the reins too little, too late. It would be hard for the party to explain to its workers why it could not win an election that was seen as its for the winning.

The BJP campaign got the extra – and what might turn out to be crucial – push over the one-week period when Modi made multiple visits ahead of the polls, inaugurating a Vande Bharat train and AIIMS at Bilaspur, among other projects. In multiple speeches, Modi recalled his personal connect with Himachal, being its one-time in-charge.

National issues such as the abrogation of Article 370, Ram temple, national security, Covid measures ranked high in the BJP’s campaign, with the party emphasising double the benefits for Himachal from a “double-engine sarkar”.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, with the extra confidence of being confirmed as the CM name by the BJP, also announced a series of development projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore.

The bulk of the burden of the campaign was borne by BJP national president J P Nadda, with Himachal his home state. He personally tried to placate many of the rebels.

The Congress used largely state-level leaders, with Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh, Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, and former state chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu the main faces. The national names that campaigned for the party included newly-appointed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. While Sonia was in the list of star campaigners, she did not make it.

“Whether Rahul Gandhi would campaign wasn’t for one person to decide. The Bharat Jodo Yatra is taking place, and everyone realises its importance, including the public and party workers. The sound of the Yatra is being heard far across, and will matter a lot in these elections,” Baghel told The Indian Express in an interview.

Apart from the OPS, the Congress believes its promise of Rs 1,500 per month to women, resentment against the Agniveer scheme and anguish among apple growers over the meagre price of their produce will help it.

After the exit polls showed the BJP finishing ahead of it or even reaching a majority, the Congress reiterated that Himachal would hold true to its “riwaz (tradition)” and change the “sarkar (government)”. “The Congress will win 40 or more seats in Himachal. Exit polls will be proved wrong and the Congress will 100 per cent form the government. We are comfortably placed,” Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, one of the observers for the November 12 elections, said.

The party is also counting on the voter turnout of 76.61%, a little higher than last time, as indicative of a vote against the BJP government.

Sate BJP president Suresh Kashyap called the same turnout as well as high voting by women as a sign of support for the party. “The BJP has worked for all sections of society and it shows,” said BJP state general secretary Trilok Jamwal.