Rising above party lines, the humility and rapport amongst the public, paid rich dividends to the winning candidates in these Assembly elections.

This has come as a mandate from the public of the state as a ‘payback’ gesture, even registering a history of sorts, with the defeat of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) chief ministerial face, Prem Kumar Dhumal, a two time chief minister.

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Prem Kumar Dhumal who contested elections from Sujanpur constituency was defeated by Congress candidate Rajinder Singh Rana, who was once his protégée.

Rana’s social engineering is known to have bailed him through, as the public of the constituency chose to elect the ground worker, more than the stalwart of Himachal Pradesh politics.  Rajinder Singh Rana had in the previous 2012 Assembly elections as an independent candidate had also won, although this time he managed to get the Congress ticket.

The rise of another candidate, PrakashPrem Kumar Rana, an NRI with business ventures in Dubai, who fought election as an independent candidate from Jogindernagar, comes as no surprise when rapport with the public and social connect is concerned.

His maiden elections, PrakashPrem Kumar Rana, defeated BJP former minister and former VidhanSabha speaker, Gulab Singh Thakur, father-in-law of MP Anurag Thakur, son of Prem Kumar Dhumal, with a margin of 6,635 votes.

Gulab Singh Thakur had earlier won seven times on different party tickets. Rana is known to be helpful to the local’s and has even promised to spend his salary towards social service in his constituency, once he is elected.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rakesh Singha, an unremitting ‘struggler’, clinched the Theog seat that stemmed from social rapport that saw them reaping rich harvest after a gap of almost 24 years. Singha under different banners is known to have been raising issues of significance to the public from time to time, be it farmer’s issues, labour issues, and the most recent being the ‘Gudia’ gangrape and murder that not only rocked the Shimla district, but also brought bad name to the state.

Kusumpti constituency winner, Anirudh Singh, who re-contested the elections won again for the second consecutive time on Congress ticket won with a margin of over 9,000 votes, defeating his sister-in-law VijayaJoyti (BJP). Singh is known to have worked for the development of his area and holds a good rapport with the public.  The clean image of BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur, who has been former minister, gained favour with the public of his constituency. He defeated his Congress rival Chet Ram with a margin of 10,274 votes.

Others, ground worker connected with the public in their respective constituencies include Banjar winner SurinderShourie (BJP), who was well accepted by the people of his area for being a ‘Dhartiputra’ and a grass root party worker.