Shimla: The delimitation exercise carried out after a gap of almost three decades has changed the complexion of several Assembly constituencies in Himachal, forcing senior leaders to shift to new seats.

While the political fallout of the fresh layout of segments will be known only after the elections, it has already made a huge impact on the selection of candidates, forcing political parties to introduce a large number of new faces and shift the constituencies of some of the established leaders. Some leaders who were left with no seat have even been denied the ticket, cutting them out of the electoral gamble.

The big are hit

The traditional constituencies of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Virbhadra Singh and Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes are among those hit the hardest by the exercise.

While Dhumal's Bamsan constituency and Kumarsain of Vidya Stokes have been clubbed together to create a seat, Shimla Rural, the Rohru segment of Virbhadra Singh has been reserved for the Scheduled Castes. The sitting BJP legislator from the seat, Khushi Ram Balnatah, has quit the party, and is likely to contest from Kusumpti, which has now been de-reserved.

Virbhadra Singh has been forced to contest from the newly created Shimla Rural constituency. Dhumal has shifted to Hamirpur, to which a sizeable number of voters from the scrapped Bamsan seat have been transferred. Similar is the case of Vidya Stokes, who has moved to the adjoining Theog seat.

There is, however, no change in the total number of seats, which remain pegged at 68, as was before the delimitation. However, the number of constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes has gone up from 16 to 17. Solan is an additional seat reserved, because of which former Health Minister Rajeev Bindal has had to move to the Nahan seat in the adjoining Sirmour district. Besides Rohru and Solan, two more general-category seats, Baijnath and Chintpurani, have been reserved for the Scheduled Castes. On the other hand, two reserved seats, Gagret and Kusumpati, have been de-reserved. Another reserved segment, Pragpur, has been deleted, and in its place Dehra, a new seat in the general category, has been carved out.

Nudged out

Virbhadra Singh

As a result of the fresh reservations or removal of reservations, sitting Congress MLAs Sohan Lal (Kusumpti) and Yog Raj (Pragpur) have been denied the ticket this time. Rakesh Kalia (Chintpurni) has been forced to shift to Gagret and Sudhir (Baijnath) will be contesting from Dharamsala. There is no change in the status of the three constituencies. The Kinnuar, Lahaul-Spiti and Bharmour constituencies continue to be reserved as before.

Kangra, the biggest and politically most significant district of the state, has been a loser in the delimitation, as it has lost one Assembly seat, while Kullu district, which had the minimum number of three seats before delimitation, has gained one.

Vidya Stokes

The Thural constituency of Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Ravi has been removed, reducing the number of seats in Kangra from 16 to 15. A new constituency, Manali, has been created in Kullu, increasing the number of seats in the district from three to four. It now joins Bilaspur district, which also has four seats.

The complexion of several key Assembly segments has been completely changed, while some of them have even been renamed. Rajgir (SC) has been renamed as Jaisinghpur (SC), Gangath (SC) as Indora (SC), Jawali as Fatehpur, Guler as Jawali, Jaswan as Jaswan-Pragpur, Rajnagar (SC) as Churah (SC), and Banikhet as Dalhousie, under the Kangra parliamentary constituency.

In Hamirpur district, a new seat Sujanpur has been created in place of Bamsan and the Mewa (SC) segment has been renamed as Bhoranj and Nadaunta as Badsar. In Una district, Santokhgarh has been rechristened Haroli and in Bilaspur district Kot Kehloor has been renamed Sri Naina Devi Ji, and Gheharwin (SC) as Jhanduta. In Mandi district, Chachiot has been renamed Seraj and Gopalpur as Sarakaghat.

As areas have been excluded or included in most of the constituencies, the contesting leaders will have to work overtime to establish rapport with new electors brought into their fold. Keeping in view the fact that there were about two dozen constituencies that in the last poll were decided by a margin of less than 2,500 votes, delimitation could prove to be tricky affair for many.

Dharamsala: The delimitation of Assembly constituencies has changed the political and caste equations in the politically sensitive Kangra district. It has also fuelled factionalism in both the Congress and BJP, with the displaced leaders trying to find new areas for themselves.

The exercise has reduced the number of Assembly constituencies in Kangra from 16 to 15. The Thural Assembly constituency that was the bastion of BJP leader and Minister for Irrigation and Public Health Ravinder Ravi was abolished in the delimitation.

Ravi had won from the constituency three times consecutively. The segment has now been split among three other Assembly constituencies, Jaisinghpur, Sulah and Jawalamukhi.

Jwalamukhi

Ravi, left without a constituency, is now seeking the party ticket from Jwalamukhi on the plea that the largest area from his former Thural Assembly segment was now part of Jwalamukhi. He also claims that caste equations in Jwalamukhi have changed after delimitation. The percentage of Rajput votes in the constituency has increased after delimitation, he points out.

However, his candidature from Jwalamukhi has been opposed by Shanta Kumar, national vice-president of the BJP, as his loyalist Ramesh Dhawala is representing the constituency. Dhawala is also strong in his constituency, from where he had three consecutive wins.

Baijnath

After delimitation, the Baijnath Assembly constituency, which was earlier in the open category, has been reserved for SC candidates. Sudhir Sharma of the Congress, who was representing the constituency, has thus been left without any constituency. Sharma has now been given the party ticket from the Dharamsala Assembly constituency. However, in this constituency he carries the tag of being an outsider, thereby increasing his challenge. Local Congressmen from Dharamsala too have threatened to resign in case Sudhir was not removed from "their area" as candidate.

The Dharamsala ticket to Sudhir Sharma has also upset former MLA and MP from Jodhpur Chandresh Kumari, who had been demanding the Congress ticket from the area for her son Ashwarya Katoch.

Pragpur

The Pragpur Assembly constituency was earlier reserved for SC candidates and was represented by Congress MLA Yog Raj. However, now the name of the constituency has been changed to Jaswan Pragpur, and it has been thrown open to the general category.

Dehra

Dehra is a new constituency created in Kangra. Yog Raj was demanding the ticket from the area. However, the Congress has decided to put up a general-category candidate from the area. Upset at being denied the party ticket, Yog Raj has announced his candidature from Dehra has an Independent. Former HPCC president Viplove Thakur was also demanding the party ticket for Dehra, but has been denied as his brother Nikhil Rajour is contesting from the adjoining Jaswan Pragpur Assembly constituency. The Congress has given the ticket for Dehra to Brig Rajinder Rana (retd).

Re-caste

The delimitation changed the caste equations particularly in Dharamala and Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituencies.

The Dharamsala constituency had a majority of tribal Gaddi votes. However, after delimitation, many Gaddi villages have been removed from the constituency and merged in the adjoining Shahpur Assembly constituency. Instead, many OBC-dominated villages from Nagrota Bagwan have now been made part of the Dharamsala constituency. It is believed the Dharamsala Assembly constituency now has a majority of OBC voters.

All these changes have forced many leaders in Kangra to shift to new areas, while others have failed to find any constituency to contest.

Hamirpur: The delimitation process in Hamirpur district has resulted in the disintegration of the Bamsan Assembly constituency, represented by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, while a new constituency, Sujanpur, has been created in the district.

As a result, Dhumal, who had won three consecutive elections from there, including the last with a margin of over 26,000 votes, has had to look for a new constituency.

Though he had the option of contesting from Sujanpur and Hamirpur, Dhumal, after a long suspense, finally decided to contest from Hamirpur. This has disturbed the plans of sitting Hamirpur MLA Urmil Thakur, who has contested the last three elections from there and had won in 1998 and 2007. Initially, Thakur had opposed the move to shift her to newly the created Sujanpur segment, but has now reconciled.

Former Congress MLA Anita Verma, who has contested six elections from Hamirpur since 1990 and won twice, has also decided to shift to Sujanpur, as she was reluctant to contest against the Chief Minister.

Verma and Urmil, rivals in Hamirpur in the past three elections, are once again in the fray from Sujanpur.

After the disintegration of the Bamsan segment, it was split between Sujanpur, Hamirpur and Bhoranj (R) constituencies.

The ancestral village of Dhumal, Sameerpur, has been included in Bhoranj, represented by Education Minister ID Dhiman.

While 15 booths of the Bamsan segment have been merged in Bhoranj, 20 of Hamirpur and 42 booths of Bamsan have been merged in Sujanpur.

Ukhali and surrounding panchayats, along National Highway 88 in the Bhoranj constituency, have been included in Hamirpur.

Bhota Nagar Panchayat area and a few other panchayats of Bhoranj have been included in the Badsar constituency.

Nine panchayats of the Galod area and the ancestral village of sitting Badsar MLA Baldev Sharma, under Badsar constituency, have been included in the Nadaun constituency, changing the caste equations in Nadaun by including the large number of Brahmins in Badsar.

Dharamsala, October 12
State Congress chief Virbhadra Singh has come out openly in favour of his loyalists Sudhir Sharma and Sanjay Rattan, whose constituencies were changed by the party high command yesterday.

Virbhadra Singh, who was campaigning in Kangra district, today said Sudhir Sharma would contest from Dharamsala and Sanjay Rattan from Jwalamukhi.

Asked about Manoj Gaddi, who held a press conference here today and thanked the party high command for giving him the ticket, Virbhadra Singh said Gaddi could be asked about his candidature tomorrow.

Virbhadra Singh indicated with confidence that the Congress high command might review its decision again over the change in Dharamsala and Jwalamukhi candidates by tomorrow.

Due to efforts being put in by Virbhadra Singh, Sudhir Sharma stayed on in rented accommodation in Dari instead of moving to Jwalamukhi.

Gaddi started campaigning here along with his supporters. Sanjay Rattan was also camping in Jwalamukhi, but campaigning had come to a halt and workers were discouraged.

Asked to comment on his relationship with Vijai Singh Mankotia, Virbhadra Singh said cases in court against Mankotia would go on. “I accepted the decision to bring Mankotia back into the Congress in the interests of the party,” he said.

Addressing a rally in Kangra, Virbhadra Singh claimed that the present government had filed false cases against him due to political vendetta. “The unfortunate part is that certain police officers acted with a vindictive attitude in the cases. If the Congress is voted to power, I will not act against anyone with a vindictive attitude,” he added.

Kangra, October 12
State Congress chief Virbhadra Singh today criticised the PK Dhumal-led government for ‘failure on all fronts’ and lambasted it for false cases against him as part of its ‘victimisation policy’.

He was addressing a public meeting at Kholi village on the outskirts of the town today. He said if his government came to power, he would not stoop so low to implicate political opponents in false cases.

He said it was unfortunate that the Dhumal government followed in the footsteps of the governments of Tamil Nadu and Punjab, which left it with little time for development.

He said the state was shattered economically and the state government failed to spend Rs 10,000 crore provided by the Centre under rural development, NRHM and MGNEGA schemes in the last four years, due to which the funds lapsed.

He said the Dhumal government misled the people on various projects, including the 108 ambulance, service which was a Central project and not of the Dhumal government.

Virbhadra Singh justified the granting of the ticket to Surender Kaku, saying he was a poor and honest grassroots worker, and sought support for him.

Virbhadra Singh said Kaku did not face a threat from the BJP, but from his own neighbours, hinting at GS Bali. Kaku also addressed the gathering.

Virbhadra Singh demanded an explanation from Kangra district Congress chief Suman Verma and other office-bearers for their absence from the public meeting. Verma and other office-bearers are Bali’s associates.

Verma said she received Virbhadra Singh in Nurpur when he entered the district yesterday, but could not make it today because of poor health.

Dharamsala, October 12
Though the Congress yesterday changed its candidates from Dharamsala and Jwalamukhi, the suspense over conformity of change continued throughout the day today.

Congress candidate Sudhir Sharma who has been shifted from Dharamsala to Jwalamukhi today did not go to his new constituency.

He had already stated yesterday that he would contest from Dharamsala or would not contest from anywhere else.

His supporters here, including local block Congress leaders, continued to hope that the party high command would review its decision.

On the other hand, supporters of Sanjay Rattan, who has lost his ticket as per yesterday’s order of the Congress high command, held a meeting at Jwalamukhi and urged the party to review its decision.

Rattan has also reportedly stopped campaigning and is now lobbying to save his ticket.

The recent change has hit the Congress campaign in both constituencies.

Virbhadra Singh who was scheduled to hold a rally in Jwalamukhi today also cancelled his programme in the area due to uncertainty over the ticket.

If the party high command sticks to the change affected yesterday, one of the Virbhadra loyalists, including Sudhir or Rattan, would have to lose the ticket.

Meanwhile, Manoj Gaddi, the new Congress candidate from Dharamsala, today organised a press conference and tried to demonstrate his strength among the Gaddi community of the area.

Manoj brought with him a few supporters belonging to the Gaddi community. His supporters said it was for the first time that the Congress has given the party ticket to a member of the Gaddi community in Kangra district.

Due to this decision, Gaddis across the district would support the Congress.

However, opponents of Manoj maintained that most of the Gaddi leaders who had come with him were from the Naddi area that was now the part of the Shahpur Assembly segment.

They claimed that none of the prominent Gaddi leaders from Dharamsala had accompanied Manoj. Congress leaders from Dharamsala failed to come openly in his support. Many of them were still hoping that the Congress would again change its decision and field Sudhir from Dharamsala.

Local sources said the Congress high command had changed the Dharamsala ticket to give representation to the Gaddi community of Kangra. However, the move has peeved the Virbhadra camp that is demanding review of the decision.

Shimla, October 12
Chief Minister PK Dhumal said today that the electorate of the Shimla (rural) constituency will certainly fulfil his wishes of retiring from politics by ensuring his defeat.

Addressing party workers on the occasion of inauguration of the BJP party office in Shoghi, here today, he said Virbhadra’s wish of retiring from politics will come true soon.

“Virbhadra is campaigning in the area and stating that this was his last innings as he would retire but the fact is that it is people who will decide his fate,” he said.

He sought votes for Ishwar Rohal, the BJP candidate, and said he was a commoner who would relate and understand their issues.

He also addressed party workers from Shimla (urban) and Kasumpti constituencies while seeking votes for party nominees Suresh Bhardwaj and Prem Thakur.

He said the Centre had failed to take any steps to check corruption, price rise and unemployment.

He was accompanied by Virender Kashyap, MP; BR Chauhan, former MLA; and BJP nominee Ishwar Rohal.

Dharamsala, October 12
The Congress will use statements issued by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Shanta Kumar and Kangra Member of Parliament Rajan Sushant against the state government in its election campaign.

The chairman of the intellectual wing of the state Congress, NK Singh, said this while addressing a press conference here today. Dr Swatantra Mahajan, convener of the intellectual cell in Kangra, was also present.

NK Singh said Sushant had stated that the state was acting as the land mafia and Shanta Kumar had demanded that two powerful ministers in the government be sacked. Both had issued many statements against the BJP government, which were reported in the media, he added.

“We have collected the statements and will use these in publicity material to prove that even BJP leaders were perturbed at the corruption in the present government,” he said. He alleged that the government had failed to tap tourism potential of the state.

NK Singh, former Chairman of the Airports Authority of India, said he had given an idea to the state government to develop small airports in the state where small planes could land using the GPRS system.

Since the condition of roads in the state was poor and there was hardly any rail connectivity, the idea of developing small airports could have promoted tourism in the hinterland of the state, he said. The state government failed to act on the idea, he stated.

He alleged that DP Sood Commission formed by the present government has exposed illegality in land deals by 40 colonisers. Although some errors committed during the tenure of the previous Congress regime had also come to light, corrective steps could have been taken by the BJP government, he said.

Mandi, October 12
The voices of dissent in the Seraj Congress became louder today as two ticket seekers Prof Vir Singh Chauhan and Chet Ram Thakur, Congress block president, and their supporters today gave two-day ultimatum to the party high command to change the ticket or face mass resignation.

On the other hand, Tara Thakur, a former JBT teacher, declared as a party candidate from Seraj and her supporters today convened their meeting at Janjheli, a parental house of Tara’s father late Moti Ram, a turncoat and a former MLA and a supporter of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram. A lone woman candidate from the district, Tara, kicked off her campaign amid the strong opposition from the Seraj Congress.

But Chet Ram Thakur and party office-bearers of the Seraj Congress held a parallel meeting at Chail Chowk and boycotted Tara’s reception in protest. Both Chet Ram and Prof Chauhan, former district president, also Virbhadra Singh’s supporter, wanted a change in the ticket, saying that the party should allot the ticket to a winning candidate.

The Seraj Congress submitted a memorandum to state president Virbhadra Singh, party high command Sonia Gandhi, HP party affairs in charge Virender Chaudhary and leader of opposition Vidya Stokes, who has been siding with Tara.

Chet Ram said Tara was not even a Congress member. The high command had imposed an unknown face on people and that would eliminate the Congress from Seraj, he claimed, seeking a ticket for himself.

Chet Ram said it was a general house of the Congress and the office-bearers had given two days to the party high command to change the ticket or they would resign en mass from the Congress.

Those who attended the meeting included Nageshwar, Daulat Lal, Jaivanti Devi, Rakesh Kumar, Netrapal, Rajinder Sharma and others. Both Prof Chauhan and Shiv Lal remained conspicuous by their absence.

Prof Chauhan said the party high command never gave the party ticket to a winning candidate. “People of Bali Chowki and the middle belt of Seraj are disappointed as both BJP and Congress always allotted the ticket to candidates from the Janjheli belt but I am a true soldier of the party,” he asserts.

On the other hand, the old Moti Ram group in Seraj has rallied around Tara and claimed Shiv Lal has supported Tara.

Nurpur, October 12
The Congress is all set to check the threat of rebellion in the party following the ticket allotment. Virbhadra Singh has said all efforts will be made to persuade rebels to fall in line and honour the party’s decision.

The state Congress chief was addressing a press conference here last evening. “Defiant ticket contenders who jump into the fray as Independents will face action,” he warned.

Asked if the Congress, if voted to power, would review cases of tainted officials whose prosecution was withheld by the PK Dhumal government, he said action would be taken on merit.

He said the Congress was serious on the issue of benami land deals struck during the present regime and the frequent granting of permission for establishing private universities without verifying credentials.

“The Congress, if voted to power, will examine every case and safeguard the interests of the state,” he asserted. He alleged that the Dhumal government had failed on all fronts and had worked only to mint money by corrupt means.

He also categorically denied the report in a private regional television channel that he had announced retirement from active politics after Assembly elections. He added that he had taken up the issue with the channel.

The state Congress president also addressed an election meeting here in support of party candidate Ajay Mahajan. He claimed that development in the area had been undertaken only during the Congress regime.

He called upon party ticket contenders to come forward in support of party candidates in the state. Mahajan also addressed the election meeting.

Hamirpur, October 12
One-rank-one-pension for ex-servicemen has been a very significant and emotional issue during the past few elections in the state and both Congress and BJP are preparing to use this issue to win support of ex-servicemen and their families in the coming Assembly elections.

On the one hand, after an announcement regarding one-rank-one-pension a few months ago by the Central Government, Congress leaders want to project this as a major achievement of the UPA government in the Assembly elections. On the other hand, BJP leaders are terming the announcement of as not enough to fulfil the demand being raised by the ex-servicemen.

One-rank-one-pension is an old issue as the state has several lakh serving personnel and ex-soldiers had been demanding uniform pension for every rank, irrespective of their pay scale at the time of retirement. Since, the state has more than one-and-half lakh ex-servicemen and almost same number of serving soldiers, both parties intend to capitalise the issue to garner votes. The serving personnel and ex-servicemen have sizeable presence in Kangra, Bilaspur, Una, and Mandi districts with maximum concentration in Hamirpur district.

Terming the announcement of the UPA government of one-rank-one-pension as a major initiative of the Congress to redress pending demand of the ex-servicemen, state chairman of the Ex-servicemen Department Col. BC Lagwal (retired) said, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced to given one-rank-one-pension with an annual grant of Rs 2,300 crore to settle the issues of serving and ex-servicemen in the Union Cabinet.”

Lagwal says, “We recently met Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju who clarified that Rs 1,300 is required to give one-rank-one-pension and we will have only 5 per cent gap to fulfil this demand and will subsequently get this also.”

Chief Minister PK Dhumal says, “The BJP has always been champion of one-rank-one-pension issue and other demands of the personnel. I recently talked to Defence Minister AK Anthony, who told me that the Central Government has just taken a step in this direction,” Dhumal added.

The Chief Minister says, “We are committed to this demand and the BJP will fulfill it.” 

Shimla, October 12
Himachal Pradesh may have been a poor state bestowed with a “special” category status, but its elected representatives are not.

An analysis of the data of the 2007 Assembly elections carried out by the Himachal Election Watch reveals that as many as 20 out of the 68 legislators were “crorepatis” with assets in excess running into crores of rupees.

The ruling BJP had the highest number of 11 “crorepatis,” followed by the Opposition Congress with seven. Out of the three Independents, two were “crorepatis”.

Lakhwinder Rana of the Congress who represents Nalagarh topped the list with assets of Rs 36.34 crore and Khimi Ram (Banjar) of the BJP was a distant second with assets of Rs 4.66 crore.

Other rich MLAs included Sujan Singh Pathania (Congress) Rs 4.55 crore, GS Bali (Congress) Rs 3.81 crore and Anil Sharma (Congress) Rs 3.11 crore.

Further, 27 sitting members (40 per cent) have been booked in criminal cases.

The BJP had the highest number of 23 members (56 per cent) facing criminal cases, including four pertaining to serious offences, while the Congress had three such members (13 per cent) and out of the total three Independents, one was booked for a serious offence.

Anil Bairwal, national coordinator for the Himachal Election Watch, said the growing influence of money power and criminalisation of politics in this peaceful state was a matter of concern.

He appealed to political parties not to field candidates facing cases.

The average number of sittings of the Vidhan Sabha in a year came to 32 for the 2007-12 period, which was far less than 70 for the Lok Sabha. There were 16 MLAs who attended maximum number of 128 sittings and another four who attended 127 sittings.

Senior Congress leader Kaul Singh put the maximum number of 368 questions followed by Rajesh Dharmani (353), Mukesh Agnihotri (268), Gangu Ram Musafir (227) and Kuldeep Singh Pathania (207).

The state was also plagued with gender bias with only five women MLAs (7 per cent), BJP- five and Congress-one, in a House of 68.

Shimla, October 12
The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up efforts to douse the flames of rebellion, with Chief Minister PK Dhumal today achieving partial success as he managed to mollify Nachan legislator Dile Ram. Former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar remained firm on his demand for the ticket from Dehra.

Following a one-on-one meeting with Dhumal, Dile Ram relented and decided to stay on in the party.

However, Parmar, who met the Chief Minister in the evening, refused to compromise. “I have demanded a change in ticket or else, I will contest as an Independent,” he asserted.

State BJP chief Satpal Satti earlier held parleys with Dile Ram and asked him to meet the Chief Minister so that his grouse could be addressed.

With Dhumal taking out time to interact with party workers in the state capital today, he was expected to meet many of the rebels.

“Though the possibility of making any change in candidates is ruled out, those who have been denied the ticket will be given respect and importance both in the organisation and the government,? said a leader.

With the BJP denying the ticket to four sitting legislators, Rop Singh (Sundernagar), Dile Ram (Nachan), Tulsi Ram (Bharmour) and Des Raj (Indora), it was expected that there would be a rebellion against the party’s decision.

Though Satti had been in constant touch with these leaders, it was expected that with the Chief Minister stepping in to placate them, the situation would be brought under control.

Tulsi Ram, Assembly Speaker, was keen to field his wife from Bharmour, but the party gave its verdict in favour of Jia Lal. His supporters were demanding that his wife contest as an Independent.

Des Raj was under pressure of his supporters to get the candidature of Reeta Dhiman changed even though the possibility of any modification was remote.

Meanwhile, the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) today managed to woo another BJP leader, Gaurav Sharma, former Shimla Municipal Corporation councillor. He will contest from Shimla Rural.

Besides, the HLP has finalised the name of Abhimanyu Rathore, a young lawyer, as its candidate from Dharampur constituency in Mandi district.