Over to voters as star-studded campaigning ends in Himachal

The star-studded campaign for the four Lok Sabha seats and six assembly bypolls came to an end on Thursday evening. The Congress has set its eyes on regaining lost ground in the state as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has swept the Lok Sabha elections in the states on the last two occasions.

Voters from four seats spread across 12 districts will exercise their franchise in the seventh and final phase of polling on Saturday, marking the end of about 44-day polling exercise.

The toral 57,11,969 voters, of which 438 are above the age of 100 years, will seat the fate of the 37 candidates in fray for the four Lok Sabha seats.

The maximum 12 candidates are in fray from the Hamirpur seat, followed by 10 each in Mandi and Kangra and five in Shimla.

Elections to the six assembly seats – Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret, Sujanpur and Kutlehar will be held simultaneously. Elections were necessitated after the six Congress MLAs were disqualified from the assembly for defying a whip to vote for a financial bill in February.

All six alone and three independent MLAs had cast their ballots for BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan against Congress’ Abhishekh Manu Singhvi in the tumultuous polls that sent the state government into a crisis.

As many as 25 candidates are contesting the bye polls As many as seven candidates are contesting elections from Gagret, eight candidates are in the fray in Sujanpur, four candidates are contesting in Dharamshala and three each in Lahaul and Spiti, and Barsar.

Rahul, Priyanka galvanise Congress

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended two public rallies in Nahan to canvas for party’s Shimla candidate, Vinod Sultanpuri, and Una for Hamirpur party candidate Satpal Raizada.

It was, however, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who galvanised the party workers with multiple rallies and roadshows in the lead-up to polls. Priyanka hit the campaign trail in Chamba and traversed the lengths and breadths of the state. She covered Shahpur in Kangra, before moving to Kullu to campaign for party’s Mandi candidate Vikramaditya Singh before winding up her last day campaign by holding a road show in Solan on the way back to Delhi.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also held a rally in Rohru, while party leader Shashi Tharoor held several media briefings across the state.

Modi holds fort for the BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the biggest campaigner for the BJP, addressing two election meetings to canvas for the party’s Shimla and Mandi candidates Suresh Kashyap and Kangana Ranaut.

Union home minister Amit Shah attended two election rallies in Hamirpur and Dharamshala, while the party’s national president Jagat Parkash Nadda hit the campaign trail will seven election meetings in Rampur Bushahr, Rohru, Sholtu in Kinnaur, and later in Bilaspur to canvass for Hamirpur Lok Sabha candidate Anurag Thakur — who is contesting from the seat for fifth time.

Sukhu, Agnihotri pull all stops to ensure win in bypolls

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who has a lot riding on the six assembly bypolls, remained pitted in the lower belt. He and deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri led the charge in the six assembly segments for the Congress, going on a campaign blitzkrieg to canvas for party candidates. He raked up the “betrayal” of the Congress rebels, who he continuously accused of selling out.

Former CM and leader of Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur, however, remained more confined to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat.