The Fatehpur Assembly Constituency has Rakesh Pathania of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bhawani Singh Pathania from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Rajan Sushant of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contesting for this year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections. Rakesh Pathania previously contested elections from Nurpur constituency. Bhawani Singh Pathania was elected as the MLA in Fatehpur district in 2021, after the demise of his father, Sujan Singh Pathania.
For many years, elections in Himachal Pradesh have been a two-party contest between the BJP and Congress. Since 1985, the state has been alternately ruled by Congress and the BJP. The BJP hopes to break the cycle, while Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP hopes to make a significant debut in the state’s political diaspora.
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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.
In 2017, Sujan Singh Pathania of the Congress won the seat by defeating his closest rival Kripal Singh Parmar of the BJP with a margin of 1,284 votes. Om Parkash from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rasal Singh of Lok Gathbandhan Party (LOGAP) and independent candidates Baldev Thakur, Dr Rajan Sushant, Bidhi Chand Sharma and Dr Ashok Kumar Somal also contested the election. Baldev Thakur previously contested the elections in 2012 on a BJP ticket.
Fatehpur is one of the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. Fatehpur falls under the Kangra district and Kangra Lok Sabha Constituency along with 16 Assembly segments, namely, Churah, Chamba, Dalhousie, Bhattiyat, Nurpur, Indore, Jawali, Jwalamukhi, Jaisinghpur, Sullah, Nagrota, Kangra, Shahpur, Dharamshala, Palampur and Baijnath, Sihunta. Fatehpur has more than 88,000 eligible voters.
In 2012, Sujan Singh Pathania of INC defeated Baldev Thakur from BJP, by 7,369 votes. Independent candidates Sudha Sushant, Dr Ashok Kumar Somal, Pankaj Sharma, Dr Ashok Kumar Somal, Ramesh Dutt, Pawan Singh and Om Parkash of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also contested the HP Assembly Elections in 2012.
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 Fatehpur Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Fatehpur, Kangra district
Polling date: November 12, 2022
Sitting MLA, party: Bhawani Singh Pathania, INC
Key candidates, party in 2022: Bhawani Singh Pathania (INC), Rajan Sushant (AAP), Rakesh Pathania (BJP)
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Sujan Singh Pathania, INC
Runner-up name, party 2017: Kripal Singh Parmar (BJP)
Winning margin in 2017: 1,284
Top 3 candidates 2017: Sujan Singh Pathania (INC), Baldev Thakur (Independent), Kripal Singh Parmar (BJP)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Sujan Singh Pathania (INC), Baldev Thakur (BJP), Sudha Sushant (Independent)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kangra
