Himachal Pradesh goes to polls
SUBHASHIS MITTRA - Wide Angle
A bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress appears to be on the cards in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh in November, where the Aam Aadmi Party too will be seen trying its electoral luck.
The BJP will seek to overturn the three-decade convention of ‘no ruling party returning to power’ by defeating the main opposition Congress.
This is because the BJP and the Congress have given alternate governments in the state for over three decades.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which is seeking to expand its footprint nationally, has said it was fully confident of getting the people's mandate.
CM Jai Ram Thakur is the BJP's chief ministerial face for the polls while the Congress will perhaps go without a CM face.
In the 68-member Assembly, the BJP currently has 43 members, followed by 22 of the Congress. Besides, there are two Independents and one CPM MLA.
In percentage terms, the BJP won 48.79 per cent of the total valid votes, followed by the Congress (41.68 per cent) and Independents (6.34 per cent) in the last elections.
The notification for the Assembly elections will be issued on October 17. The last date for the filing of nominations is October 25.
Scrutiny of papers will be held on October 27 and the last date for the withdrawal is October 29. Voting will take place on November 12, while the counting will be held on December 8.
Nearly 55.75 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the state. There are 1.86 lakh first-time voters, 1.22 lakh aged 80-plus and 1,184 voters who are even above 100 years of age.
The announcement of elections came barely a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state during which he launched a slew of development projects and flagged off the Vande Bharat Express linking Una district of HP with the national capital.
Soon after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu directed the police to act tough against the mafia and lawbreakers to ensure a free and fair assembly elections.
The state's top cop asked his officers to ensure that the Model Code of Conduct is strictly enforced and issued detailed guidelines for conducting free and fair elections in the state. He asked the police officers to ensure compliance with all the orders and guidelines received from the Election Commission and the police headquarters.
While the ruling BJP is harping on its “development” works in the past four years to retain power, the opposition is raising issues like mounting corruption, inflation, unemployment and poor facilities in health and education sectors.
The saffron party is keen on “mission repeat” and highlighting the need for “double engine” development.
The Congress on the other hand is making “anti-incumbency” an issue but at the same time the Grand Old Party is missing its six-time chief minister late Virbhadra Singh, whose death has created a vacuum for the party in the state.
Prime Minister Modi held a series of rallies in different parts of the state in the past a few months, inaugurating various schemes and projects.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched the party's election campaign in the hill state by addressing the 'Parivartan Pratigya Rally' at Solan, while the ruling BJP tried to steal a march over the Grand Old Party with Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking to woo the voters by saying the Narendra Modi government had made possible what had previously seemed impossible.
Vadra alleged that 63,000 posts were lying vacant in the state but unemployed youths had not been provided jobs. She promised that five lakh jobs would be provided to unemployed youths in five years and announced a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to women to help raise the standard of living.
"This is the time to change, otherwise you will not get anything in the next five years," she said. "If you vote the Congress to power, Himachal Pradesh will grow." People want change and they will vote for the Congress, Vadra claimed.
On the other hand, Shah said the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019. "Did you ever think that Article 370 would be abrogated," he asked at an election rally of the ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district.
"If you talk to Congress leaders and workers about Article 370, they remain mum as its provision was made by Jawaharlal Nehru," he said.
On the construction of Ram temple, Shah said, "Congress used to taunt us and say 'Mandir vahi banayenge, tithi nahi batayenge'." Prime Minister Modi started the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said.
"Be it construction of Ram Mandir or abrogation of Article 370, the Modi government made possible what had earlier seemed impossible," Shah said.
He also said the prime minister has ended 'parivarvaad' in politics. The days of king and queen are gone and Prime Minister Modi changed the name of Rajpath in Delhi to Kartavya Path and installed a grand statue of Subhas Chandra Bose there, Shah said as he reminded the gathering about the surgical strike carried out by the armed forces in response to terrorist attack.
He said the Modi government has brought the Indian economy to the fifth position in the world from number 11 in just eight years.
