Kangra (Himachal Pradesh): BJP candidate Dr Rajeev Bharadwaj won by a margin of 251895 votes. He defeated Congress nominee and former Union Minister Anand Sharma. While Dr Bharadwaj polled 632793 votes, Sharma managed to vote 380898 votes.
In Himachal Pradesh, BJP won all the four seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP has replaced its sitting MP from Kangra and fielded Rajiv Bhardwaj, a close relative of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shanta Kumar.
Anand Sharma is a four-time Rajya Sabha member. This was the first time Sharma was fighting for a seat in the lower house. He had once contested the assembly elections from Shimla in 1982 in which he was defeated.
Anand Sharma, who came into politics in his student days, was also the president of the Indian Youth Congress. He was a cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh's government. Sharma, considered close to the Gandhi family, has also been a part of the G23 group of Congressmen. In the last 17 Lok Sabha elections, Congress and BJP have won from this seat 9 and 7 times respectively. Since 2009, the seat has been with BJP, which has managed its stronghold, and changed candidates each time.
The total number of registered voters in this constituency in 2024 polls was 15,02,514, and the seat saw a voting turnout of 67.24%, according to the Election Commission’s data. The seat went to polls in phase 7 on June 1, 2024.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kishan Kapoor of BJP won from Kangra, getting 725,218 votes, comprising 72.02% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated Pawan Kajal by a margin of 477,623 votes. In 2014, BJP’s Shanta Kumar had won from this seat, polling 456,163 votes (57.06%) and defeating Chander Kumar of Congress by a margin of 170,072 votes.
