The bypoll in Nalagarh, once home to Rajput rulers, was necessitated after technocrat turned politician and independent MLA Kishan Lal Thakur resigned on March 22 only to join the BJP a day later.

The ruling Congress has tasked Indian National Trade Union Congress’ (INTUC) state unit president Hardeep Singh Bawa with wresting the seat. Having lost the 2022 polls to Thakur, who is now contesting as the BJP pick, he will be keen to exact revenge.

Amid the race between the bigwigs, the campaign for independent Harpreet Singh also began to gain traction after finding support from two-time former MLA Lakhwinder Singh Rana.

An executive engineer with the irrigation and public health department, Thakur resigned from his government job and joined the BJP in 2012. He made it to the assembly from Nalagarh that year for the first time.

In 2018, the leader lost elections to Rana, then a Congress candidate. Thakur tasted success again after contesting as an independent in 2022. He had been denied a BJP, which instead fielded Rana.

Shaking things up

Harpreet Singh, son of three-time BJP MLA Harinarayan Saini, has defied the party to contest elections as an independent. His candidacy threatens a split in the BJP vote, potentially hurting the prospects for Thakur, who is already facing lingering resentment over his brief stint as an independent MLA followed by a hasty return to the saffron fold.

Harpreet Singh is looking to strike an emotional chord with the voters, “My family remained dedicated to the progress of Nalagarh, elections will be a tribute to my father. Those who were elected earlier did not work.”

Adding further intrigue to the contest Rana’s strategic manoeuvres. The leader has been subtly urging Sikh voters to reconsider their support for the Congress candidate. Rana wields influence among the electorate. That, coupled with dissatisfaction towards Thakur’s resignation, Rana believes could sway undecided voters towards Harpreet.

The BJP, meanwhile, is busy attacking Bawa as an “outsider”.

Thakur in a recent speech said, “Bawa had his business stakes in Pinjore and Parwanoo he never bothered for Nalagarh. Mafias are active in Nalagarh, be it drugs or scrap dealers, but the government did not help Nalagarh.”

Bawa retorts by saying that he has always remained with the people of Nalagarh through thick and thin.

“The BJP candidate needs to explain to the people what forced him to resign from the assembly when they had the option of supporting any political party. Ke defied the people’s mandate,” he said while attacking Thakur.

Himachal’s Manchester has problems aplenty

Industrial growth attained momentum after 1978 when industrial centres came into existence as a 100% centrally sponsored scheme.

By the early 2000s, growth had slowed down and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced an industrial package for the state, which accelerated things. The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh sector has since emerged as the biggest pharmaceutical hub in the country.

Problems, however, remain with inadequate road, railway, air and communication services. Transport cartelisation and non-availability of skilled and semi-skilled workers are among the other major problems that will be on voters’ minds.

Voters had cast their ballots enthusiastically in the 2022 assembly elections, with Nalagarh recording 80% polling. Thakur had defeated Bawa by a margin of 13,264 votes.