In a “big victory” ahead of the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, scheduled for next year, the Congress, on Tuesday, won all three Assembly constituencies in the bypolls. Apart from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, the party secured victory in Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly constituencies. The polling for the seats was held on October 30. While the Congress party workers are happy with their performance, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is in “deep shock” after losing the bypolls.
Experts believe that the BJP lost the three seats because it sidelined winning candidates. A couple of wrong policies of the ruling party as well as the price rise of essential commodities caused the defeat for BJP, experts observed.
Political analysts opined that the BJP suffered loss in all the three seats due to growing rate of unemployment, surge in fuel prices and not raising local issues in the byelections. Analysts also believe that farmers’ protest influenced the bypolls.
According to experts, in the mountain state, BJP lost all the three assembly seats in the bypoll because of price rise of essential commodities including mustard oil and food items. People, across the state, have a negative sentiment against the BJP government because of the inflation.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur accepting the people’s verdict accepted inflation to be the cause behind the party’s loss. Thakur also said that the Congress made inflation an issue and redeemed it well.
Several BJP leaders believe that wrong allotment of tickets in the state led to loss of its candidates and even forfeiting security in one of the seats. In Jubbal assembly constituency, BJP denied ticket to Chetan Bragta and opted Neelam as its candidate. Chetan has been associated with the BJP for the last 15 years and was in charge of the BJP IT cell in the state. The ruling party could have won the seat as he had a good hold in the constituency and the seat had gone vacant due to the sudden demise of his father, party members said.
Similarly, the party chose Baldev Thakur as its candidate for Arki assembly ignoring three-time former MLA Kripal Parmar.
During the bypoll campaigning, the saffron party did not talk about inflation or local issues instead kept praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work. On the contrary, Congress leaders attacked the BJP for rising prices of fuels and mustard oil.
In the state, cement prices have increased twice in October by Rs 15. Mustard oil is being sold at Rs 245 per litre. Prices of several vegetables like tomato and onion have crossed Rs 50 in the state.
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