The Kangra Assembly Constituency has Pawan Kumar Kajal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Surender Singh Kaku from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Rajkumar Jaswal of the Aam Admi Party (AAP)—a three-way contest for this year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections. Kajal is currently the sitting MLA in Kangra district. He won the 2017 elections on a Congress ticket.
Himachal Pradesh has largely 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 is trying to make a significant dent in the state’s political landscape.
Also Read: The Art of Losing Congress-Style
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, Pawan Kumar Kajal of the Indian National Congress (INC) won the seat by defeating his closest rival Sanjay Chaudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a margin of 6,208 votes. Vijay Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Col. Retd. Kuldip Singh of Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP), Ravi Chand of National Congress Party (NCP) and independent candidate Dr Rajesh Sharma also contested the election.
Kangra is one of the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. Kangra falls under the Kangra district and Kangra Lok Sabha Constituency, along with 16 Assembly segments, namely, Churah, Chamba, Dalhousie, Bhattiyat, Nurpur, Fatehpur, Jawali, Indora, Jwalamukhi, Jaisinghpur, Sullah, Nagrota, Shahpur, Dharamshala, Palampur and Baijnath, Sihunta. Kangra has more than 81,000 eligible voters.
In 2012, Pawan Kajal, an independent candidate defeated Surender Kumar Choudhury of INC by 563 votes. Sanjay Chaudhary of BJP, Vijay Kumar Bhari of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Ram Swaroop Verma of Himachal Swabhiman Party (HiSP), Ram Niwash Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Aman Guleria of Communist Party of India (CPI) and independent candidate like Dr Rajesh Sharma 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 Kangra Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Kangra, Kangra district
Polling date: November 12, 2022
Sitting MLA, party: Pawan Kumar Kajal (had won 2017 election on INC ticket, joined BJP in August 2022)
Key candidates, party in 2022: Pawan Kumar Kajal (BJP), Surender Singh Kaku (INC), Rajkumar Jaswal (AAP)
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Pawan Kumar Kajal, INC
Runner-up name, party 2017: Sanjay Chaudhary, BJP
Winning margin in 2017: 6,208
Top 3 candidates 2017: Pawan Kumar Kajal (INC), Sanjay Chaudhary (BJP), Dr. Rajesh Sharma (Independent)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Pawan Kajal (Independent), Surender Kumar Choudhury (INC), Sanjay Chaudhary (BJP)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kangra
