The Indora Assembly Constituency has Reeta Devi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Malender Rajan from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Jagdish Bagga of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contesting for this year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections. Malender Rajan previously contested unsuccessfully in 2012 elections as an independent candidate.
Since 1985, the state has been alternately governed by Congress and the BJP. The BJP hopes to break the cycle, while Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP hopes to make a significant dent in the state’s political diaspora.
The BJP had won 44 constituencies last time and the Congress had won 21. The CPM had won one seat. A party needs to win at least 35 seats for a majority to form the government in the state.
In 2017, Reeta Devi of the BJP won the seat by defeating her closest rival Kamal Kishore of the Congress with a margin of 1,095 votes. Sushil Kumar from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and independent candidates Laxman Dass, Balwant Singh and Tilak Raj also contested the election.
Indora is one of the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. Indora falls under the Kangra district and Kangra Lok Sabha Constituency along with 16 Assembly segments, namely, Churah, Chamba, Dalhousie, Bhattiyat, Nurpur, Fatehpur, Jawali, Jwalamukhi, Jaisinghpur, Sullah, Nagrota, Kangra, Shahpur, Dharamshala, Palampur and Baijnath, Sihunta. Indora has more than 91,000 eligible voters. The constituency is reserved for the candidates of Scheduled Castes.
Also Read: Pakistanis expect Rishi Sunak to push India on Kashmir resolution
In 2012, Manohar Dhiman, an independent candidate defeated Kamal Kishor from INC, by 7,369 votes. Reeta Dhiman of BJP, Piara Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Sukhbinder Kumar of Bharatiya Bahujan Party (BBP), Tilak Raj of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and independent candidate Malender Rajan, 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 Indora Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Indora, Kangra district
Polling date: November 12, 2022
Sitting MLA, party: Reeta Devi, BJP
Key candidates, party in 2022: Reeta Dhiman (BJP), Malender Rajan (INC), Jagdish Bagga (AAP)
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Reeta Dhiman, BJP
Runner-up name, party 2017: Kamal Kishore, INC
Winning margin in 2017: 1,095
Top 3 candidates 2017: Reeta Dhiman (BJP), Kamal Kishore (INC), Sushil Kumar (BSP)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Manohar Dhiman (Independent), Kamal Kishor (INC), Reeta Dhiman (BJP)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kangra
