The Nagrota Assembly Constituency has Arun Kumar Mehra of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Raghubir Singh Bali from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Umakant Dogra of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) for this year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections. Arun Kumar first contested elections in 2012 as an independent candidate.
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 dent.
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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, Arun Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party won the seat by defeating his closest rival G.S Bali of the Indian National Congress (INC) with a margin of 1,000 votes. Pinki Devi of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and independent candidate Navneet also contested the election.
Nagrota is one of the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh. Nagrota 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, Kangra, Shahpur, Dharamshala, Palampur and Baijnath, Sihunta. Nagrota has more than 88, 000 eligible voters.
In 2012, G.S Bali of INC defeated Arun Kumar, an independent candidate by 4,428 votes. Chaudhary Mangal Singh of BJP, Pinki Devi of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Mulkh Raj Sharma of Himachal Swabhiman Party (HiSP), Satish Kumar of Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP), Col Shakti Chand of All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) and Charan Dass Choudhary of Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) 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 Nagrota Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Nagrota, Kangra district
Polling date: November 12, 2022
Sitting MLA, party: Arun Kumar, BJP
Key candidates, party in 2022: Umakant Dogra (AAP), Raghubir Singh Bali (INC), Arun Kumar Mehra (BJP)
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Arun Kumar, BJP
Runner-up name, party 2017: G.S Bali (INC)
Winning margin in 2017: 1000
Top 3 candidates 2017: Arun Kumar (BJP), G.S Bali (INC), Navneet (Independent)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Chaudhary Mangal Singh (BJP), Arun Kumar (Independent), G.S Bali (INC)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kangra
