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Journalism of Courage
Hamirpur Lok Sabha Constituency: Established in 1952, during the first-ever Lok Sabha elections, Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency is one of the only four Lok Sabha seats in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Hamirpur is comprised of 17 Vidhan Sabha seats in total, including Dehra, Jaswan-Pragpur, Dharampur, Bhoranj, Sujanpur, Hamirpur, Barsar, Nadaun, Chintpurni, Gagret, Haroli, Una, Kutlehar, Jhanduta, Ghumarwin, Bilaspur and Sri Naina Deviji.
After its inception, apart from the first few elections, Hamirpur has been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP has won eight of the last nine Lok Sabha elections from these seats, with their last loss coming in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections when the Indian National Congress emerged victorious. Since then, the BJP has won six times to confirm its domination in Hamirpur.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Hamirpur Lok Sabha will go under polling in phase five on May 20. Where has the BJP fielded their four-time sitting MP and union minister Anurag Thakur while Congress has fielded former MLA of Una Vidhan Sabha, Satpal Singh Raizada, as their Lok Sabha candidate for the 2024 General Elections from Hamirpur.
Anurag Thakur won the Lok Sabha by-poll on Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat in 2008 to get into the lower house of the Indian Parliament for the first time in his career. He went on to retain his seat in the subsequent elections of 2009, 2014, and 2019, becoming one of the few MPs to win four back-to-back elections from the same seat. Thakur has been an instrumental part of both Narendra Modi-led central government in the last ten years, strengthening his candidature for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After winning the Lok Sabha elections in Hamirpur 28 years ago, Congress has decided to go with one of the popular faces from one of the Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Hasmirpur, Una, and former MLA Satpal Singh Raizada as their candidate for the mega elections 2024. He defeated the sitting MLA of that time, Satpal Singh Satti of BJP, in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections to secure his first major victory in mainstream politics. Raizada currently holds the position of Congress’ state vice president.
