Just a day after the first anniversary of the Centre's demonetisation decision, the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on Thursday.
Voting will open at 7 am at all 68 seats in the Himachal Pradesh with traditional rivals, with a total of 337 candidates including 62 MLAs are in the fray. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, 10 ministers, eight Chief Parliamentary secretaries, Deputy Speaker Jagat Singh Negi, former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and over a dozen former ministers are among those who have thrown their hat in the ring.
The ruling Congress led by the chief minister and the BJP led with former chief minister Dhumal are contesting all 68 seats while the BSP is contesting 42 seats, followed by the CPM - 14, Swabhiman Party and Lok Gathbandhan Party six each and the CPI - 3.
File image of Virbhadra Singh. PTI
The Chief Minister(s) to be
On one side is the Congress' sitting chief minister Virbhadra Singh, while on the other hand is BJP's old warhorse Prem Kumar Dhumal in the fray. The battle for the hill state is one of the rare examples when the BJP has put its stake on a clear candidate in the two-horse race.
Dhumal, a two-term chief minister, will seek to thwart Singh's record seventh shot at power. Singh, 83, the tallest Congress leader in the state, is
facing graft cases and is locked in a bitter feud with state Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu whose ouster he sought but failed to ensure ahead of the elections. The old Congress warhorse also has to contend with the possible anti-incumbency.
Meanwhile, Dhumal has his own battles to fight. At 73, his age is considered to be a negative mark in his column as it's just two short of the BJP's disqualification limit of 75. When asked about this, Dhumal said he will cross the river when he gets there.
High drama campaigning
The 12-days high-voltage campaign marked by acrimonious exchanges, which came to an end on Tuesday, saw over 450 rallies by star campaigners of the BJP and the Congress including Prime minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah who addressed seven and six rallies respectively. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi addressed three rallies.
The BJP organised 197 rallies while the sitting chief minister alone addressed 200 meetings across the state for the Congress during the past two and a half months. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh three and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke at seven public meetings.
Modi and other BJP leaders repeatedly targeted Singh and his government for alleged corruption. While the BJP's pet line of campaigning had been that Himachal Pradesh needed to be freed of five mafias - 'Mining Mafia', 'Forest Mafia', 'Drug Mafia', 'Tender Mafia' and 'Transfer Mafia', a combative Rahul Gandhi, hit back on the BJP over unemployment and the state of economy. Rahul also lambasted the government over the manner in which the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled-out.
The hot issues dominating the election
While the BJP and the Congress engaged in a war in Himachal Pradesh, both the parties speak in the same language when it comes to the main issue in the polls. Development and political corruption emerged to be the main agenda in the polls.
The BJP's vision document for Himachal Pradesh lays thrust on employment generation because it is another major issue in the election. The document said thrust will be on generation of employment by harnessing tourism potential and developing new tourist circuits.
The Congress too tried to woo the youth on the same plank. The party claimed that the state government had created 70,000 jobs for the youth in Himachal Pradesh over the past five years compared to only 10,000 jobs by the BJP government in Gujarat over the same period.
The Gujarat Model of development was often discussed and debated as the benchmark of development, with the Congress claiming that the smaller state fared much better than the former on social development index.
File image of BJP 's chief minister candidate for Himachal Pradesh PK Dhumal. AFP
Poll trivia
Did you know, that out of the 68 constituencies that go to poll there is a straight contest only in one constituency (Jhanduta) while the maximum number of 12 candidates are in fray in Dharamsala.
The BJP has fielded four Congressmen including former minister Anil Sharma and given a ticket to one Independent from Chopal while Congress had fielded two independents from Paonta Sahib and Kangra. Both Singh and BJP's Dhumal have shifted their constituencies and are contesting from Arki and Sujanpur.
Chief parliamentary secretary Mansa Ram, who was elected for the first time in 1967 from Karsog(SC), is in the fray for the eleventh time.
There are 19 women in the fray including six fielded by the BJP and three by the Congress while seven rebels each of BJP and Congress are also contesting the polls. At present, the Congress and the BJP have 35 and 28 MLAs respectively in the 68-member House besides four independents while one seat is vacant.
Over 180 independents and a dozen rebels of the Congress including former ministers Singhi Ram (Rampur) and Vijay Singh Mankotia (Shahpur) are in the fray.
A total of 50,25,941 voters are eligible to cast their vote.
Tight security arrangements in place
As many as 7,525 polling booths have been set up in the state and 37,605 polling personnel have been deputed for poll duty.
Besides 17,850 personnel of police and Home Guards and 65 companies of central paramilitary force have been deployed, Chief Electoral Officer Pushpender Rajput said.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for ensuring free and fair polls and 29 general, three police, 22 expenditure observers and 71 assistant expenditure observers, 1,561 micro observers, besides, 193 sector magistrate and 789 sectors officers have also been deployed throughout the state. Web-casting would be used in 2,307 polling stations in the state for live monitoring of polling activities in the state by Election Commission of India and polling would be held from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, the Chief Election Officer said.
He said the state has 100 percent Photo Identity Card (EPIC) holders and 7,525 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) are being used. VVPAT machines are being used for the first time in this Assembly Election and 10 percent of total EVMs and VVPATs have been kept in reserve.
The Election Commission has also allowed the electors to cast their vote by producing any one document out of the 12 identity documents. He said 983 polling stations had been declared vulnerable and 399 as critical to ensure free and fair elections in the State.
The maximum numbers of vulnerable polling stations are 297 in Kangra district and minimum two in Kinnaur district, Rajput said. He said the Hikkim polling station in Lahaul and Spiti Assembly Constituency, which is situated at a maximum height of 14567 feet, has 194 voters while Ka polling booth in Kinnaur has a minimum of six voters.
In the previous election, BJP dissidents floated the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) just ahead of 2012 which won only one seat but cornered 4.52 percent votes. The Congress and the BJP won 36 and 26 seats polling 43.21 and 38.83 percent votes. Independents candidates polled 15.87 votes and five independents were elected.
This time there is no third force and as Congress and the BJP have been returning to power alternately since 1985, the BJP is claiming that it is their turn to stage a comeback.
With inputs from PTI
Published Date: Nov 08, 2017 10:51 pm | Updated Date: Nov 08, 2017 10:58 pm
