The Churah Assembly Constituency has Hans Raj of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yashwant Singh Khanna from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Nand Kumar Jaryal of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) a three-way contest for this year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections.
Elections in Himachal Pradesh have for many years been a two-party contest between the BJP and the Congress. Since 1985, Congress and the BJP have alternately formed governments in the state. The BJP hopes to end that cycle, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP hopes to make a serious dent.
The BJP had won 44 of Himachal’s 68 assembly constituencies last time and the Congress had won 21. The CPI(M) had won one seat. A party needs to win 35 seats for a majority to form the government in the state.
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In 2017, Hans Raj of the Bharatiya Janata Party won the seat by defeating his closest rival Surender Bhardwaj of the Indian National Congress with a margin of 4,944 votes. The other candidates were Nand Kumar of the Samajwadi Party and Des Raj, who was an independent candidate. BJP defeated the Congress and won 44 seats, while the Congress secured only 21 seats in 2017.
Churah is one of the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. Churah falls under the Chamba district and Kangra Lok Sabha Constituency along with 16 Assembly segments, namely, Chamba, Dalhousie, Bhattiyat, Nurpur, Indora, Fatehpur, Jawali, Jwalamukhi, Jaisinghpur, Sullah, Nagrota, Kangra, Shahpur, Dharamshala, Palampur and Baijnath, Sihunta.
Churah constituency is reserved for the candidates of Scheduled castes. It came into existence in 2008, following the delimitation of the Legislative Assembly constituencies and covers most of the area covered by the erstwhile Rajnagar constituency.
Churah has more than 70, 000 eligible voters. In 2012, Hans Raj defeated Surender Bhardwaj of INC by 2,211 votes. Kishan Chand had also contested the election on the Bahujan Samajwadi Party ticket.
Himachal Pradesh votes in a single round on November 12. Results will be announced on December 8. Elections to the Gujarat assembly are also expected to be held in December this year.
Quick facts about the Churah Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Churah, Chamba district
Polling date: November 12, 2022
Sitting MLA, party: Hans Raj, BJP
Key candidates, party in 2022: Yashwant Singh Khanna (INC), Nand Kumar Jaryal (AAP), Hans Raj (BJP)
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Hans Raj, BJP
Runner-up name, party 2017: Surender Bhardwaj, INC
Winning margin in 2017: 4944
Top 3 candidates 2017: Hans Raj (BJP), Surender Bhardwaj (INC), Nand Kumar (SP)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Hans Raj (BJP), Surender Bhardwaj (INC), Kishan Chand (BSP)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kangra
