Mandi : BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut has won a big margin of 72,088 votes from Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh. The actress-turned-politician has defeated Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh her very first election.
After the victory, she took his mother's blessings after offering prayers at the temple of his Kul Devi. Kangana Ranaut got 5,14,661 votes. On the other hand, Congress candidate got 4,42,573 votes. There was a close contest between the two during several rounds of counting, but Kangana won in the end. She got a good lead in assembly constituencies like Siraj, Nachan and Mandi Sadar of Mandi.
On the other hand, Vikramaditya Singh's performance was better in Rampur, Kinnaur and tribal areas. The entire election in Mandi parliamentary constituency was fought on the credibility of former CM Jairam and the reputation of PM Modi. During the entire election campaign, former CM Jairam was seen holding rallies with Kangana Ranaut. In the assembly elections, BJP won nine seats in Mandi.
Apart from this, Kangana kept chanting the name of PM Modi in Mandi. PM Modi himself came to Mandi to campaign for Kangana. In such a situation, BJP's bet on Kangana has been successful in the initial trends. As soon as Kangana's name was announced for this seat, many BJP workers got angry. Vikramaditya Singh comes from a big political family. His family has dominated this seat. Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh have been MPs from here. Vikramaditya Singh himself has been a cabinet minister in the state. Also, in many exit polls, BJP was shown lagging behind on this seat, but Kangana proved all the predictions wrong.
Mandi is the largest Lok Sabha seat of Himachal Pradesh. In the 17 Lok Sabha elections held so far, Congress has won from it 11 times, BJP 5 times and Lok Dal once. It can be called the seat of kings and princes because only faces associated with the royal family have won elections on this seat 13 times.
Although this seat remained in the name of BJP in the elections held in 2014 and 2019, in the by-election held after the death of MP Ram Swaroop Sharma in 2021, this seat was won by Pratibha Singh of Congress. By-elections were held on this seat in 2013 too. Pratibha Singh won then as well. The constituency comprises 17 assemblies in 6 districts.
Mandi constituency has been in the news after BJP fielded Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut from the seat. The 4-time National Film Award and Padma Shri winner, Kangana is a Mandi local. Famously called 'Queen' in Bollywood, Kangana has worked in 40 films, and has been in the headlines for her statements.
Vikramaditya Singh, son of six-time Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, is contesting from Mandi Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket. His mother Pratibha Singh is the current MP from Mandi and President of Himachal Congress. Virbhadra Singh was 4 time MP, out of which he reached Lok Sabha 3 times from Mandi. Pratibha Singh has also reached Parliament thrice from Mandi seat. Vikramaditya Singh has become MLA for the second consecutive time. After 2017, in 2022, he reached the Legislative Assembly from Shimla Rural seat of Shimla district and also became a minister.
2024 polls: The total number of registered voters in this constituency in 2024 polls was 13,64,060, and the seat saw a voting turnout of 72.15%, according to the Election Commission’s data. The seat went to polls in phase 7 on June 1, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls, Ram Swaroop Sharma of BJP won from Mandi, getting 647,189 votes, comprising 68.75% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated Congress candidate Aashray Sharma by a massive margin of 405,459 votes. Sharma had won from here in 2014 as well, polling 362,824 votes (49.97%) and defeating Congress’ Pratibha Singh by a margin of 39,857 votes.
