BARSAR (HP): Barsar assembly constituency falls under Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency and it will see BJP, Congress, AAP and other candidates contest. While two times winner Inder Dutt Lakhanpal of Congress is hoping for a repeat of the performance in the last assembly elections while BJP candidate Maya Sharma is looking forward to regain legacy of its husband Baldev Sharma who won this seat thrice.
Lakhanpal defeated BJP candidate Baldev Sharma in 2012 and 2017. In the last assembly election, Lakhanpal got 26, 679 votes compared to Baldev Sharma 25, 240. Thus Lakhanpal won the seat with a thin majority of 439 votes. It is one of the 68 constituencies in Himachal Pradesh Elections 2022 for Legislative Assembly. It has a total count of 84, 048 voters. In 2017, Will BJP be able to take over Congress this time? Or will Congress see a third consecutive term in the constituency?
In 2012, INC candidate Inder Dutt Lakhanpal won and secured a total of 26, 041 votes. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Baldev Sharma stood second with total 23, 383 votes. He lost by 2, 658 votes. The Congress nominee also facing incumbency factor. People here were complaining that during his two terms he did nothing in development of the area. Even small issues have not been addressed by him.
But this time, a factor that could be important here is the entry of AAP has made the contest triangular. Talking to the people of the area revealed that entry of AAP in the contest would not stand anywhere in winning the seat but it would dent the vote bank of the Congress which in turn a loss to the Congress.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Anurag Singh Thakur won from Hamirpur Lok Sabha (MP) Seat with the margin of 399572 votes by defeating Ram Lal Thakur of the Indian National Congress and thus registered lead in all 17 assembly segments of Hamirpur Parliament constituency.
Though counting is far away but all the contestants of the segment are staking claim to win the seat. The counting will be held on December 8. With political crystal gazers predicting close finish in the segment which could swing of voters either way. The BJP and the Congress are keenly engaged in doing anticipatroy number crunching.
Whether the voters of the segment will repose faith in ‘Maya’ or can go with the ‘Inder.’ Both Maya and Inder exuded confidence of getting a clean majority but they are also apprehensive of their win. This time thew state Congress is passing through a leadership crisis with the demise of towering leader Virbhadra Singh. On the other, lukewarm attitude of the Congress leadership in contesting elections in Himachal makes the win tough for the Congress candidates.