In a major setback for the ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh, the opposition Congress party on Tuesday won by-elections to Mandi Lok Sabha seat and assembly segments of Arki, Fatehpur, Jubbal Kotkhai and got a major shot in the arm ahead of 2022 assembly polls in the state.

The results proved that there was an undercurrent against the ruling party on the issues of price rise and unemployment in bypolls which were termed as the semifinal ahead of the assembly elections, scheduled to be held in 2022.

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The ruling BJP suffered a major setback in the Mandi parliamentary constituency which was the home turf of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur with Congress party candidate Pratibha Singh, the wife of former CM Virbhadra Singh, securing the win by 8,766 votes.

Singh secured 3,65,650 votes while the BJP candidate Brig Khushal Singh Thakur got 3,56,884 votes while 12,626 persons opted for the NOTA option out of the total 7,42,771 votes that were polled on 30 October.

The Mandi Lok Sabha seat had fallen vacant due to the death of two-time MP Ramswaroop Sharma and BJP had won elections on the seat in 2019 by a margin of 3.98 lakh votes.

In the Arki assembly segment, Congress candidate Sanjay Awasthi secured a win over BJP candidate Ratan Pal Singh by 3,277 votes as the former got 30,493 votes while the latter secured only 27,216 votes.

The Arki assembly segment was formerly held by Virbhadra Singh who passed away in July this year after a prolonged illness.

In Jubbal Kotkhai constituency, the ruling party couldn’t contain party rebellion resulting in Chetan Bragta, the son of former minister Narinder Bragta contesting the polls as an independent candidate after he was denied party ticket.

This had shifted the focus of the contest between Bragta and Congress candidate Rohit Thakur in bypolls with the latter securing win by 6,103 votes as he got 29,447 votes while Bragta got 23,344 votes.

The BJP candidate Neelam Saraik couldn’t make a mark in the bypoll as she only secured 2.584 votes and even her deposit was forfeited.

The constituency was previously held by BJP and it had fallen vacant due to the death of Narinder Bragta.

In Fatehpur, Congress candidate Bhawani Singh Pathania secured win by 5,652 votes and defeated BJP candidate Baldev Thakur who polled 18,280 votes while the former got 23,932.

The segment was previously held by Congress and it had fallen vacant due to the death of former minister Sujan Singh Pathania.