BJP Loses In Himachal’s Mandi, 3 Other Assembly Seats for Party Ahead of 2022
- Congress has completed a stunning clean sweep of bypolls in BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh.
- BJP candidate secured less than 2,600 votes.
- Congress candidate Sanjay was leading with 2,659 votes.
Mandi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a huge embarrassment as it lost Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi parliamentary seat to the Congress, besides 3 other seats of Fatehpur, Arki, and Jubbai-Kothkai. Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, who is the wife of the late former six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, on Tuesday won Mandi parliamentary seat against BJP candidate and Kargil war hero Brigadier (retd) Khushal Chand Thakur. This was for the first time that a member of Virbhadra Singh’s family contested an election after his demise due to post-Covid complications.
In Mandi, the prestige of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and the late Virbhadra Singh’s family was at stake. Mandi being his home district, was a litmus test for Thakur to ensure the victory of BJP candidate Thakur, who tried his luck for the first time. In Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly seat after the second round of counting, Rohit Thakur (2,825) of the Congress was leading with 248 votes over his nearest rival Chetan Singh Bragta (2577), a rebel BJP candidate contesting as an independent candidate.
In Fatehpur, Baldev Thakur of the BJP was leading with a margin of 924 votes over his nearest rival Bhawani Singh Pathania of the Congress. In Arki, Congress candidate Sanjay was leading with 2,659 votes over BJP’s Rattan Singh Pal (4,808).
