Himachal Pradesh elections 2022: List of key candidates to watch out for
Over the past few years, Himachal Pradesh has seen bipolar contests between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its arch-rival, the Congress. In the 2017 polls, the saffron party won 44 seats (up from 26 in 2012),
FollowAssembly elections for the upcoming 68-member Himachal Pradesh is all set to be held on November 12 while the counting of votes and the results will be announced on December 8.
Over the past few years, Himachal Pradesh has seen bipolar contests between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its arch-rival, the Congress. In the 2017 polls, the saffron party won 44 seats (up from 26 in 2012), while the Congress candidates were victorious only on 21 seats (down from 36 in 2012).
Also read:Â 'Who should be CM candidate?': AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal asks Gujarat, to declare CM face on Nov 4
With this let's take a look at the key candidates contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls:Â
Jairam Thakur
Bharatiya Janata Party
Seraj constituency
Jairam Thakur, the incumbent Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh hails from a humble family in Mandi district and started his political career with the ABVP, the RSS' students wing, in the state and was appointed its joint secretary in 1986. He had been the ABVP organising secretary for Jammu and Kashmir during 1989-93 and went on to become the president of the state Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
Jairam has won consecutive five Assembly polls from Chachiot and Seraj (delimited constituency of Chachiot) in Mandi since 1998 and was the panchayati raj and rural development minister during 2009-2012 in the previous BJP government.
In the upcoming assembly polls, Jairam Thakur will be contesting against Congress' Chetram Thakur and AAP's Gita Nand Thakur.
Mukesh Agnihotri
Indian National Congress
Haroli Constituency
Mukesh Agnihotri, a four-time Congress MLA has been the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the poll-bound state after being elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader following the November 2017 state Assembly polls. In 2003, Agnihotri contested his first election from the Santokgarh Assembly seat in Una district.
In 2007, the Congress leader was re-elected from the constituency. He went on to win from the Haroli constituency, which was known as Santokhgarh before delimitation, in the 2012 and 2017 Assembly polls.
Mukesh will contesting against BJP's Ramkumar and AAP's Ravinder Pal Singh Mann.
Also read:Â Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: States with AAP-led govt are in bad shape, says Anurag Thakur
Rajiv Saizal
Bharatiya Janata Party
Kasauli constituency
Dr Rajiv Saizal is a three-time MLA from Kasauli and is the Minister for Family Welfare, Health and Ayurveda in the Himachal Pradesh government. He will again contest from the same seat, amid anti-incumbency and scrutiny of his performance as the state's Health Minister.
The BJP leader hails from the apple belt of Sirmour. He later pursued a degree in Ayurvedic medicine from a college in Kasauli's Solan, where he became associated with BJP's student's wing ABVP, and was appointed campus president.
In the upcoming assembly election, Rajiv Saizal will be contesting against Congress' Vinod Sultanpuri and AAP's Harmel Dhiman.
Also read:Â Himachal Pradesh election on November 12; counting of votes on December 8
Govind Singh Thakur
Bharatiya Janata Party
Manali Constituency
In the 2017 assembly election, BJP's Govind Singh Thakur garnered as many as 27,173 votes leading his rival from the Congress by more than 3,000 votes. Hari Chand Sharma from Congress received 24,168 votes in his favour. In this assembly election, AAP's Anurag Prarthi is also on the election battlefield making it a 3-front contest.
In the upcoming polls, Govind Singh Thakur will be contesting against Congress' Bhuvneshwar Gaur and AAP's Anurag Prarthi.
