Himachal Pradesh results: In Theog, as Congress changes candidate, Vidya Stokes bastion goes to CPM

The Congress then fielded Deepak Rathore, a youth leader known to be close to party president Rahul Gandhi. However, Rathore was not acceptable to Stokes or Virbhadra. Stokes then filed her nomination papers, but the Returning Officer rejected them on technical grounds, as he had already accepted Rathore’s nomination as the Congress candidate.

The winner, Singha, 60, hails from the Kotgarh apple belt and was at the forefront of the agitation that followed the rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Kotkhai. He emerged as the face of the protest, highlighting the state’s law and order condition, besides the CPI(M)’s pro-farmer agenda. In the 1993 assembly elections, Singha had won from Shimla, but his election was set aside by a court as criminal charges were pending against him.