India News | Anurag Thakur Wins Hamirpur Seat for Fifth Consecutive Time
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Union minister Anurag Thakur won the Hamirpur parliamentary seat for the fifth consecutive time, defeating his nearest rival from Congress Satpal Raizada by a margin of 1,82,357 votes.
Shimla, Jun 4 (PTI) Union minister Anurag Thakur won the Hamirpur parliamentary seat for the fifth consecutive time, defeating his nearest rival from Congress Satpal Raizada by a margin of 1,82,357 votes.
The senior BJP leader polled 6,07,068 votes against 4,24,711 votes bagged by Raizada, a former MLA from Una, , according to the Election Commission.
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Expressing confidence that the BJP-led NDA would once again form its government at the Centre, Thakur said India had progressed a lot under Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last 10 years and this process would continue.
The people of Himachal Pradesh have given their hundred per cent support to the BJP and it would return to them the same once its government is formed again, he added.
Stakes were high for Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Thakur in Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency as assembly segments of the CM, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri and cabinet minister Rajesh Dharmani fell under this constituency.
Revolt in the state Congress made the parliamentary contest interesting in Hamirpur.
Thakur won the 2019 elections by 3,99,572. He was elected for the first time in 2008 following his father Prem Kumar Dhumal's resignation after taking over as chief minister of the state.
The Hamirpur parliamentary constituency is considered a bastion of the BJP.
Out of the 17 elections including two by-elections held since 1952 in the seat, the BJP had won 10 times, the Congress five and the Janata Party and an Independent once each. The BJP has lost only once in 1996 on this seat after 1984.
The Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises 17 assembly segments -- five constituencies each in Hamirpur and Una districts, four in Bilaspur district, Dehra and Jaswan-Pragpur in Kangra district and Dharampur in Mandi district.
During the campaign, Sukhu accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to topple his government with money power and raked up the issue of denial of special financial package for relief and rehabilitation during the worst-ever monsoon disaster.
Thakur, on the other hand, bashed the Congress by firing questions like why it opposed the construction of the Ram Mandir, would it give SC, ST and OBC reservations to Muslims, among others.
The BJP also banked on the Ram temple and the charisma of PM Narendra Modi and accused the state government of making false promises to grab power in Himachal and betraying the people by not implementing the poll guarantees.
The total number of electorate in the constituency is 14,56,099 and the voter turnout was 71.56 per cent.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)