In Himachal Pradesh, BJP has a daunting task at hand as Assembly bypolls go along with Lok Sabha polls

The Congress campaign is led by CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is seeking votes on the performance of its year-and-a-half-old government and aggressively attacking the BJP for its alleged attempt to destabilise and topple the democratically elected Congress government in the State, besides Centre’s indifferent attitude towards Himachal Pradesh

With Himachal Pradesh gearing up for the 2024 Parliamentary election, the stakes for Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which swept all four Lok Sabha seats in the State twice – in 2014 and 2019 - are even bigger as the task appears daunting amidst simultaneous byelections for six Assembly seats in the hill State.

The elections are poised to be a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress party, which is in power in Himachal Pradesh. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) party has fielded its candidates for all four seats as well.

The Congress-ruled state of Himachal Pradesh saw political turbulence, a few months ago with six of its MLAs turning rebels. With all of them now contesting as candidates of the BJP for the byelections on six Assembly seats, the BJP has a challenge at its hands to accomplish an ambitious feat. These byelections were necessitated following the disqualification of the Congress MLAs from the State Legislative Assembly for defying a party whip in February this year.

For the Congress, the key challenger to the BJP, the parliamentary polls are a fight to boost the party’s electoral prospects for its revival at the national level. Alongside, the win in the Assembly bypolls is also critical for the survival and stability of the Congress’s State government.

In the 68-member Assembly, the majority figure is 35. The Congress had 40 MLAs, after the disqualification of six MLAs, the Congress number fell to 34. Though with the disqualification episode, the total number of members in the House has dropped to 62 and the majority figure stands at 32, yet the Congress, which has been suffering from factionalism, needs to ensure its win to go beyond the majority mark for running a stable government during its remaining tenure.

As intense campaigning continues to gain momentum in the State, which goes to polls on June 1, the BJP appears to be leaving nothing to chance in Himachal Pradesh, the home State of its national president J.P. Nadda. The BJP swept all four Lok Sabha seats — Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur, and Mandi — in 2019 with a vote share of over 69%. The victory came on the back of a turnout in excess of 70%, the highest ever in the State. The Congress secured just 27% of the votes in the poll. In 2014 as well the BJP had won all the Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress campaign is led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is seeking votes on the performance of its year-and-a-half-old government and aggressively attacking the BJP for its alleged attempt to destabilise and topple the democratically elected Congress government in the State, besides Centre’s indifferent attitude towards Himachal Pradesh. The Congress accuses the BJP-led Union government of not standing with the people of the State in the need of hour when a relentless monsoon last year brought the hill state to its knees by causing extensive damage to life and property. Despite repeated requests, the Central government didn’t give any special relief package for the disaster-hit people of the State, nonetheless, with its limited resources, the State government announced a special package of ₹4,500 crore, so that the affected people can get relief.