New Delhi: Kangra, the largest of the eight districts of Himachal Pradesh, holds the key to the formation of the government in the state.Of the 68 assembly seats, 15 segments fall in this district. The district usually ends up voting largely for the party which forms the government. In the 2017 assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 11 of the 15 seats and went on to get a complete majority by securing 44 seats in the 68-member Assembly.Three ministers and the Assembly speaker in the frayThis time too the district is expected to witness some keen contests. At stake would be the future of the Assembly Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar, who is contesting from Sullah; and three ministers – Sarveen Chaudhary who would be defending his Shahpur seat, Bikram Thakur who would be against contesting from Jaswan Paragpur and Rakesh Pathania who was moved from Nurpur to contest from Fatehpur.With the district having had a fair share of leaders from both the Congress and BJP who made it big in state politics by either holding ministerial berths or senior party positions, there was a big tussle for party tickets on both sides. This has also led to a situation where the two traditional rivals are seeing their rebel candidates in many of the seats.Overall, there are a total of 13,34,542 voters in these 15 constituencies of the district put together.When it comes to the demographics, nearly 34% of the voters are Rajputs, 32% belong to the Other Backward Classes, 18% are Brahmins, and 20% come from the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe category.Four of the 12 ministers came from the Kangra districtIn the 2017 Assembly elections, when BJP had won 44 of the 68 Assembly seats, this district had contributed majorly to its win as it had bagged 11 of the 15 seats here. The Congress had won three seats while one had gone to an Independent.Following the 2017 polls, four of the BJP MLAs were made ministers. This constituted a third of the total ministerial strength. The MLAs who became ministers were Kishan Kapoor from Kangra, Vipin Parmar from Sullah, Sarveen Chaudhary from Shahpur and Bikram Thakur from Jaswan Paragpur.Also read: Himachal Polls: Why are Congress, AAP Banking on Govt Employees to Corner Ruling BJP?Kishan Kapoor had successfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Kangra in 2019 and had thereafter vacated the Assembly seat. In Kapoor’s place, Rakesh Pathania was given a ministerial berth as a representative of the Kangra district. Also, Vipin Parmar was made the Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.Top BJP, Congress and AAP leaders line up to visit KangraIn keeping with the importance of the district in the overall outcome of the elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already held a rally in Dharamshala. Chief minister Jairam Thakur has already held rallies in all 15 constituencies. Besides BJP national president J.P. Nadda has also held meetings and road shows here. The district was also visited by Union ministers Smriti Irani and Rajnath Singh. Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is due to visit Kangra on November 3.Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had kick-started his party’s Himachal campaign with a rally in Kangra in April this year itself.BJP up against two of its ‘own’ in FatehpurThe most keenly watched fight in the district would be in Fatehpur from where state forest minister, Rakesh Pathania of the BJP, would take on Bhawani Singh Pathania of the Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party candidate here, Rajan Sushant, is also a former BJP MP and his entry along with that of former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kripal Parmar has made the contest extremely interesting.At a campaign rally of Rakesh Pathania. Photo: Twitter/@irakeshpathaniaParmar turned into a rebel in Fatehpur and filed his nomination as an Independent after the saffron party moved forest minister Rakesh Pathania from Nurpur and gave him the ticket from Fatehpur. Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded Bhawani Singh Pathania, who won the by-election to the constituency in 2021 following the demise of his father Sujjan Singh Pathania. The senior Pathania was a former minister who had won the seat in 2017.For the BJP, winning the Fatehpur seat, which it lost on three previous occasions, looks all the more tough as the AAP candidate and former Lok Sabha MP Rajan Sushant also comes from its own ilk. Sushant is a prominent face in Himachal politics.He had won five Assembly elections and was also a minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government from 1998 to 2000. In 2000, he won the Lok Sabha election from Kangra. However, he was suspended by the BJP in 2012 after he openly criticised Dhumal and the state party leadership.Sushant, who had joined AAP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but then left it, rejoined the party in September this year. His name was among the first four to be announced by the party, which after its poll success in Punjab, is hoping to make a statement in Himachal Pradesh as well.BJP’s Kangra seat jinx?From 1982 till 1998, BJP continuously won this seat but in the past nearly quarter of a century, it never managed to win it even once. The last BJP MLA from the constituency was Vidyasagar who won the seat in 1998. In the four previous elections, the Congress won it twice while on one occasion each it was bagged by a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and an independent.The incumbent MLA, Pawan Kajal, had won it as an Independent in 2012 and as a Congress candidate in 2017. This time he is contesting on a BJP ticket. This constituency has a large presence of OBC voters and especially those from the Ghirath sub-sect. Apart from that, it has a significant number of Rajput and Brahmin voters too.While BJP is banking on the sitting MLA to win the seat, the Congress is going all out against its former legislator who shifted his loyalties. The party has fielded Surender Singh Kaku while the AAP candidate from the constituency is Rajkumar Jaswal.Meanwhile, BJP is also facing rebellion from within its ranks in Kangra as its former MLA Praveen Sharma, who is considered a staunch loyalist of former chief minister Shanta Kumar, filed his nomination as an Independent after being denied the party ticket.In 2017 too, Sharma contested as an Independent after BJP fielded Indu Goswami, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP. Meanwhile, BJP has been trying to placate Sharma and had sent its state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna to meet him in the presence of Kumar.Ticket denials and open rebellionThe saffron party is also facing rebellion from its former leaders in Jawali, Dehra and Dharamshala.In Jawali, the party denied a ticket to its MLA Arjun Thakur and gave it instead to Sanjay Guleria. Following this Thakur had signalled a revolt which made the party send its state-in-charge Khanna to assuage his hurt feelings. The BJP is hoping that Thakur would not hurt the party’s prospects. Meanwhile, Congress has fielded Chander Kumar while the AAP candidate here would be Baldev Raj.In Dharamshala, former district president of the BJP ST Morcha, Vipin Nehria, who belongs to the Gaddi community, filed his nomination papers as an Independent after the party denied the ticket to a member from the community, which has got its representatives elected to the seat since 1985. In the 2019 Assembly by-election, the seat was won by Vishal Nehria of BJP but the party this time preferred Rakesh Chaudhary over him while deciding on the ticket.Meanwhile, the Congress, which has fielded Sudhir Sharma and the AAP has given its ticket to Kulwant Rana.CM-backed sitting MLA loses Dehra seat big Another seat sizzling with rebellion is Dehra where the sitting legislator Hoshiyar Singh filed his nomination as an Independent after the BJP chose Ramesh Dhawala, the sitting MLA from Jwalamukhi, over him.Singh won the seat as an Independent in 2017 when he defeated Ravinder Singh Ravi of the BJP. This time the seats of Ravi and Dhawala have been swapped by BJP. While Singh, who is also a former minister, had joined BJP in June this year in the hope of getting a party ticket that did not happen. It is being said that while CM Thakur was in favour of giving him the ticket, Union Minister Anurag Thakur and his father and former CM Dhumal were against such a move.So now Dhawala of BJP will take on Singh as also Rajesh Sharma of Congress and Colonel Manish Dhiman of AAP in this four-cornered battle.As for the Congress, it too is facing dissidence in Sullah where its former chief parliamentary secretary Jagjivan Pal filed his nomination as an Independent candidate the party chose Jagdish Singh Sapaiya, who is a former chairman of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, over him.Also read: Himachal Pradesh Voters Have Said They’re Concerned About Unemployment. Here’s Why.This has brightened the prospects for BJP sitting MLA and Speaker Vipin Parmar, who was following his election win in the 2017 polls first made a minister in the Jairam Thakur cabinet. The AAP candidate for the seat is Ravinder Singh Ravi.The other contestsApart from these high-profile contests, Congress, BJP and AAP will also battle it out in all the other seats in the district.In Nurpur, the fight will be between Ranveer Singh (Nikka) of BJP, Ajay Mahajan of Congress and Manisha Kumari of AAP.In Jaswan Paragpur, BJP’s minister Bikram Thakur will take on Surinder Singh Mankotia of the Congress and Sahil Chauhan of AAP among others.In Jwalamukhi, Ravinder Singh Ravi of BJP will be up against Sanjay Rattan of Congress and Hoshiyar Singh of AAP.In Jaisinghpur SC reserved seat, Ravinder Dhiman of BJP will be taking on Yadvinder Goma of Congress and Santosh Kumar of AAP. Here Congress leader Satish Kaur has filed the nomination as an Independent candidate.Nagrota will witness an electoral battle between Arun Kumar Mehra (Kuka) of BJP, Raghubir Singh Bali of Congress and Umakant Dogra of AAP.In Shahpur, BJP’s minister Sarveen Choudhary will be taking on Kewal Singh Pathania of Congress and Abhishek Thakur of AAP.Palampur will witness a contest between Trilok Kapoor of BJP, Ashish Butail of Congress and Sanjay Bharadwaj of AAP.In Baijnath SC reserved seat the fight will be between Mulkhraj Premi of BJP, Kishori Lal of Congress,, and Pramod Chand of AAP.In the Indora SC reserved seat, former BJP legislator Manohar Dhiman has rebelled against the party and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate. He would be taking on Reeta Dhiman of BJP, Malender Rajan of Congress and Jagdish Bagga of AAP.
