The Election Commission of India on Friday announced the much-awaited Himachal Pradesh election schedule. The polls in Himachal Pradesh will take place in a single phase on November 12, announced EC chief Rajeev Kumar. Furthermore, the Himachal Pradesh poll results will be announced on December 8. Click here to know the . The term of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly will end on January 8, 2023. The Commission had recently visited the state to take stock of poll preparedness. With Himachal Pradesh all set to undergo elections, below is a brief inside story of what actually going in the political parties in terms of elections in the valley.
Himachal Pradesh 2022 election is being considered an interesting one, courtesy of the Aam Aadmi Party's entry into the state. Till now, only two parties had fought i.e. the BJP and the Congress, however, this year, AAP has made its strong entry. Notably, in the history of the Himachal Pradesh elections, no political parties have managed to repeat their victory meaning no political parties have managed to win back-to-back elections in the state. Coming to the ground reality, True Scoop has learned that BJP might have to pull out a rabbit from the hat if it wants to etch its name into the history books. Due to the less-known and prominent local faces, winning the Himachal Pradesh election might turn out to be a herculean task for the 'Saffron' party.
Another reason why the BJP might face difficulty to solve the Himachal Pradesh election puzzle is because of the infighting. Yes, you read it right. There is a an infighting going on in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Now, the question arises how and why is the infighting going on? The answer is there is bitterness or let's say infighting between Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. While Himachal Pradesh CM loyalist wants BJP to keep him on the top post, on the other hand, Prem Kumar Dhumal loyalist sees him and his son Anurag Thakur as potential candidates for the post. For the unversed, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur is the son of Prem Kumar Dhumal. Due to the growing infighting, PM Modi's back-to-back rallies suggest that the high command of the party is serious about burry the infighting and focusing on the upcoming important elections, and that too at a time when the AAP is challenging them.
Notably, in the last assembly elections, the BJP won the Himachal Pradesh polls, but the saffron party's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal lost his election from the Sujanpur constituency. As a result, the BJP chose Jairam Thakur as Himachal Pradesh CM. Thakur had become the first person from Mandi to become Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
How AAP's masterplan might dent BJP's dream to create history in Himachal Pradesh
Political pundits often call lower Himachal Pradesh cities i.e. Unna, Kangra, and Bilaspur as strongholds of the BJP. However, these cities are closer to Punjab geographically where the Aam Aadmi Party had recently won the assembly elections. Therefore, Arvind Kejriwal's party is banking upon their Punjab factor that they might do good in the stronghold cities of the BJP in Himachal. If it turns out to be true, AAP will dent more on BJP than the Congress as the grand old party's strong is Upper Himachal Pradesh.
Political scenario in Himachal Pradesh
In the 2017 HP Assembly election, BJP won 44 seats in the 68-member Assembly. However, Jairam Thakur emerged as the consensus choice for the CM's post after BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the election. On the other hand, the Sonia Gandhi-led party was reduced to 21 seats. The BJP government suffered a setback last year after Congress won the by-election to the Assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai and the Lok Sabha constituency of Mandi. AAP is aiming to emerge as a key opposition force in HP which has traditionally been a bipolar contest between BJP and Congress.
In a big blow for Congress on August 17, two of its sitting MLAs- Pawan Kajal and Lakhvinder Singh Rana switched allegiance to BJP. Speculation was rife about the political future of Kajal after he was removed as the working president of the HP Congress unit a day earlier. On September 28, Congress suffered another setback as Harsh Mahajan, the working president of its state unit joined the saffron party.