At Dharamsala hotel, Anand Sharma takes feedback from aides

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, June 2

A day after polling, it was a relaxing day for the candidates who had contested the Kangra parliamentary election and the Dharamsala Assembly byelection. The exit polls were part of breakfast discussions of the candidates with their close aides. Congress leaders tried to allay the fears of their supporters by rejecting the exit polls.

Anand Sharma, former Union minister who was the Congress candidate from the Kangra seat, spent a relaxed morning at Clouds Villa hotel where he is staying for the past about one month. He went out for a morning walk. At breakfast, he invited his close aides to discuss the poll scenario in the Kangra constituency. Sharma rang up Congress MLAs to get feedback about the polling.

While talking to The Tribune, Anand Sharma rejected the exit polls and said, “I judged the mood of voter at the ground level in about 30 days of campaigning. People have voted for a change and counting on June 4 will bring out the truth.”

Anand spent most of the day in the hotel relaxing and discussing arrangements about appointing agents for the counting day.

Rajiv Bhardwaj, BJP candidate from Kangra, was back to his business at his house in Nurpur area of Kangra district. He started his day with morning walk and yoga saying, “I did get time for morning yoga after about a month and I felt relaxed after it.” Rajiv Bhardwaj, who is an ayurvedic medical practitioner, sat in his private clinic in the Jasur area of Nurpur subdivision and attended to his patients. He said after hectic campaigning, it was relaxing to be back in his clinic.

Later in the afternoon, he received supporters from Kangra and Chamba districts at his house and spent most of the day discussing voting in the constituency. Mood in the house of Rajiv Bhardwaj was elated after the exit polls predicting landslide victory for the NDA in the Lok Sabha elections. Still, the anxiety of counting day was obvious and Bhardwaj issued directions to supporters to be at counting booths in Dharamsala on time.

Sudhir Sharma, BJP candidate for the Dharamsala bypoll, got up late in the morning and avoiding picking up calls relaxing at his house in Dharamsala city. “Past two months had been very hectic and so today I just rested at my residence also avoiding calls from people,” he said. In the afternoon, Sudhir met his supporters at his residence.

Davinder Jaggi, Congress candidate for the Dharamsala Assembly bypoll, spent most of the day with his supporters from across Dharamsala city discussing voting patterns at various polling booths.