Shimla: Ahead of the Himachal Assembly polls 2022, some rebel candidates from both BJP and Congress have led to uncertainty in the electoral equation as those who did not get tickets have filed their nominations as independent candidates, making the election battle triangular. The situation in Himachal is such that even BJP's national president J P Nadda's home seat wasn't spared with Subhash Sharma dissenting from the ruling party. The grand old party faces the same wrath from its rebellious leaders.
For the Congress, in seats like Chaupal and Pachhad, big leaders have made the contest triangular by contesting as Independents. Dr Subhash Mangalet in Chaupal and senior leader Ganguram Musafir in Pachhad have pushed the Himachal elections into a triangular contest. The party was successful in persuading some, while some were adamant, ready to be expelled from the party.
BJP managed to persuade Lakhwinder Rana from Nalagarh and Pawan Kajal from Kangra to get back to its fold and offered them tickets only to have former BJP MLA from Nalagarh, KL Thakur, turning into a foe and contesting without any party backing. This has rendered an electoral imbalance with BJP's official candidate Lakhwinder Rana and Congress's Hardeep Bawa facing KL Thakur.
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Similarly, Bumber Thakur of Congress is fighting against BJP candidate Trilok Jamwal in Bilaspur, while rebel former MLA Subhash Sharma is also in the battle. Interestingly, Subhash Thakur of BJP was not given a ticket despite winning the elections in 2017. Along with this, BJP's youth leader Praveen Sharma Pinnu has also filed for individual candidature. This has resulted in a trio with BJP's Anil Sharma against Congress' Champa Thakur in Mandi facing Pinnu.
In Fatehpur, Kripal Parmar has trapped Jai Ram Thakur's minister Rakesh Pathania in a triangular contest, while Vipin Nehria has created the same conditions in Dharamsala. In Kangra too, Pawan Kajal is facing a triangular fight from Kulbhash Chaudhary. Similarly, in the Jhanduta seat of Bilaspur district, former MLA and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Late Rikhi Ram Kaundal's son Rajkumar Kaundal has aggravated BJP's problems in the upcoming elections.
Ram Singh has also turned into a rebel in Kullu and the party had to expel him. Kishori Lal in Ani and Abhishek Thakur, son of Rup Singh Thakur in Sundernagar, are dissatisfied as well, making the contest triangular.
