Rajeev Bindal loses in Nahan, Harshwardhan Chauhan wins Shillai

Solan, December 8

The BJP failed to improve its seat tally in Sirmaur district this time. Former BJP president Rajeev Bindal lost the Nahan seat to the Congress. The BJP have won only two of the five seats.

Reena Kashyap, however, is the lone woman candidate in the state to win from the Pachhad seat. She has been elected MLA for the second time on BJP ticket. She polled 21,215 votes and defeated Congress candidate Dyal Pyari.

Congress rebel and Independent candidate GR Musafir polled 13,187 votes and hence spoiled Dyal Pyari’s poll fortunes. Reena won the seat by 3,857 votes. She had earlier won the seat in the 2019 byelections by 2742 votes.

Pachhad being the home turf of state BJP president Suresh Kashyap, Reena’s victory has strengthened his position, as the party has lost the adjoining seats.

BJP candidate from Paonta Sahib Sukhram Chawdhary proved his mettle once again. He won the seat by defeating Congress candidate Kirnesh Jung by 8,596 votes. Chawdhary polled 31,008 votes against 22,412 by Jung. AAP candidate Manish Thakur polled 5,090 votes. Thakur was a former state Youth Congress president and his presence in the elections proved costly to the party. Independent candidate Manish Tomar secured 3,417 votes.

In Nahan, BJP candidate Rajeev Bindal, a five-time MLA, lost to Congress candidate Ajay Solanki by 1,639 votes. Solanki polled 35,291 votes while Bindal secured 33,652 votes. The caste factor played a key role in the elections as Rajputs, Gujjars and Muslims had aligned against the BJP and Bindal faced the tag of an outsider from Solan.

Congress candidate Vinay Kumar managed to retain the Sri Renukaji seat for the third time. He defeated BJP candidate Narain Singh by 680 votes. Narain Singh had the support of the Hattee community but he still could not win. Vinay had won the seat in 2017 by 5,160 votes.

Five-time MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan proved his mettle yet again and defeated BJP candidate Baldev Tomar from the Shillai seat by 488 votes. Chauhan polled 32,093 votes.