Union Minister Anurag Thakur’s vote base declines in BJP president Nadda’s home turf Bilaspur
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An unexpected turn of events unfolded in Bilaspur during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as Union Information-Broadcasting and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, representing the BJP from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency in Himachal Pradesh, witnessed a decline in his vote bank from the district.
Incidentally, Bilaspur is the home district of BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, and the party had held high expectations for Anurag’s electoral performance from here.
In a shift compared to the 2019 elections, where Anurag secured a commanding lead of 67,154 votes over his Congress rival Ramlal Thakur from the same constituency, this year’s electoral outcome portrayed a different narrative.
Anurag managed to secure a lead of 43,429 votes from Bilaspur over Congress candidate Satpal Raizada, marking a decrease in his margin of victory.
The BJP’s stronghold in three out of four Assembly constituencies in Bilaspur set the stage for expectations of a substantial lead for Anurag. However, the reality proved otherwise as he got fewer votes compared to the previous election.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Anurag got a total of 1,39,406 votes from the district, while Satpal trailed behind with 95,977 votes. This translated to a reduced lead of 43,429 votes for Anurag, in contrast to his previous lead of 67,154 votes secured in 2019.
Anurag, clinching victory for the fifth consecutive term, secured a lead of 1,82,357 votes. The BJP won all the four seats in Himachal Pradesh. In Kangra, Dr Rajiv Bhardwaj emerged victorious by a substantial margin of 2,51,964 votes, surpassing even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vote count. Suresh Kashyap secured victory from the Shimla parliamentary constituency with a margin of 91,451 votes while Kangana Ranaut won from Mandi with a margin of 74,755 votes.
However, none of the victorious candidates managed to match the massive margin witnessed in the 2019 elections when BJP’s Kishan Kapoor secured a landslide victory from Kangra with a margin of 4,77,623 votes. BJP’s Ramswaroop Sharma had won from Mandi with a margin of 4,05,459 votes.
