In Shimla dist, where Cong won 5 of 8 seats last time, tourism, apple concerns haunt BJP

While Covid-19 battered tourism and it is yet to fully recover, the apple farmers have been struggling against issues from price rise to GST. This March, hundreds of farmers marched to the Secretariat demanding government intervention for help.

The protests were organised by the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, but their face was the state’s lone CPI(M) MLA, Rakesh Singha, who won from Theog in 2017, wresting the seat from the Congress’s Stokes family. Singha now hopes to ride that anger again. For Vidya Stokes, who had won the seat the previous four times before the 2017 loss, the defeat was even more bitter as her father-in-law Satyananda Stokes is credited with introducing apple cultivation in the state.

In contrast, Shimla (Urban) seat has been won by the BJP’s Suresh Bharadwaj the last three times. Now a key leader for the party, Bharadwaj holds several portfolios in the Jairam Thakur Cabinet, including Urban Development, Education and Law. However, this time the BJP has fielded senior leader Sanjay Sood from Shimla (Urban). The Congress candidate is Harish Janartha, whose name could be decided only after long deliberations, said sources.

Bharadwaj is contesting from Kasumpti constituency, a densely populated and rapidly urbanising area situated within Shimla city, which faces issues such as water supply and parking spaces. As Urban Development Minister, Bharadwaj will find himself facing questions regarding Shimla’s civic nightmare. Lately, the government has announced an ambitious ropeway project for Shimla, which will cater to parts of Kasumpti. Bharadwaj’s opponent will be two-time Congress MLA Anirudh Singh.

With two chief ministers – Thakur Ram Lal and Virbhadra Singh – having won from here previously, Jubbal-Kotkhai is a ‘VIP constituency’. Since 2003, the seat has seen a back-and-forth contest between the BJP’s Narindra Bragta and the Congress’s Rohit Thakur, with Bragta winning in 2017. Bragta, however, died last year, and the bypoll was won by the Congress’s Rohit Thakur after Bragta’s son Chetan stood as an Independent on being denied a BJP ticket. The Congress has fielded Thakur again.

Rohru, an SC reserved constituency, has traditionally gone the way of the Congress, which has traditionally enjoyed Dalit support. The party is likely to gain further from the apple protests, with the area’s farmers among the first to carry out a protest for MSP guarantee and gradation of apples.

The Congress has fielded its sitting MLA Mohan Lal Brakta, while the BJP has given a ticket to Shashi Bala.

Another reserved constituency, Rampur, is also a Congress bastion, with the party retaining the seat consecutively since 1982. However, the party is nervous this time as in 2019, senior Congress leader and former state minister Singhi Ram, who had won the seat six times, joined the BJP.

The latter has been trying to consolidate support in the constituency since, and CM Jairam Thakur visited it to inaugurate developmental projects worth Rs 124 crore.

The Chopal constituency, located close to Shimla city, was won by the Congress last time under Anirudh Singh. It has fielded Rajnish Kimta this time. The BJP candidate is Balbir Verma.

With their location close to the capital, residents of the constituency are hoping for better tourism opportunities. At the same time, many rural residents believe all infrastructure development has been focused on parts of Shimla and Chopal, with the more rural parts ignored.

Virbadhra Singh earlier represented the Shimla Rural constituency, which in 2017 was won by his son Vikramaditya Singh. Vikramaditya has been speaking about job losses and the growing migration of youth outside the job for employment.