The year 2022 was full of political overtones in Himachal Pradesh, as it was an election year. The tail-end month of the year witnessed a close brush with unexceptional political events in Himachal Pradesh.
BJP’s pitch to script history – change ‘riwaz’ (tradition) and not ‘raaj’ (rule) to beat anti-incumbency was just missed by a 0.9 per cent vote share, which led to their ousting in the state.
In the battle of two major political systems, the people of the state opted to continue with the tradition of voting out incumbent and upholding the 37-year long alternating party trend, since 1985 in the hill state.
Congress wrested power with a simple majority from its traditional rival BJP, by winning 40 out of the 68 assembly seats in the state with a vote share of almost 44 percent. BJP got 25 seats, while 3 seats were won by independents.
This victory was significant for the grand old party, amid humiliating losses in Gujrat and MCD elections and the spate of losses in recent years in other states of the country.
The Congress benefitted in Himachal Pradesh by taking up local issues that were more relatable including the Old Pension Scheme, unemployment and farmers’ issues.
BJP’s high-decibel poll campaigns, the double engine government’s performance was flattened, owing to rival camps within its own ranks and the ticket distribution that went awry resulting in a number of rebel candidates.
This also made the path unusually smoother for the Congress that was facing leadership crisis and factionalism.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) suffered a major setback, as they lost the only seat won in 2017 assembly elections and the public rejected all their 11 candidates this time.
Aam Adami Party (AAP) that initially made both Congress and BJP uneasy, however emerged as a non-starter in Himachal Pradesh.
The party contested 67 seats with the security of all the candidates forfeited. Absence of cadre base and the party later having shifted all its focus on Gujarat elections resulted in a naught.
The year witnessed many political stalwarts biting dust which include 8 cabinet ministers of previous BJP government Suresh Bhardwaj, Rakesh Pathania, Virender Kanwar, Rajiv Saijal, Govind Singh Thakur, Sarveen Chaudhary, Ram Lal Markanda and Rajinder Garg.
Congress’ Kaul Singh Thakur, Thakur Singh Bharmauri, Asha Kumari and BJP’s Rajeev Bindal, Ravinder Singh Ravi, Ramesh Dhwala were some of the veterans who lost.
The year brought to an end the Dhumal era, as former Chief Minister (CM) Prem Kumar Dhumal (78) who remained a two-time CM was not given a ticket to contest the elections this time.
The factionalism that the Congress tried best to keep under cover during elections by putting up a united face, came to fore after the victory, when the challenge of CM face was needed to be addressed.
Wife of six-time CM Virbhadra Singh and MP Pratibha Singh and Congress campaign committee head and four-time winner Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu from Nadaun seat staked claim. However, circumstances favoured the latter for the top post.
A new era ushered in the state under the leadership of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. As a seventh Chief Minister, he is the first Congress leader from lower Himachal to occupy the top post and second after BJP’s CM Prem Kumar Dhumal from Hamirpur district.
For the first time in the history of the state, Himachal got a deputy CM, Mukesh Agnihotri, a journalist turned politician.
Despite CM and his deputy having taken oath on 11 December, the much awaited cabinet expansion has been pushed to happen in January.
For the Hatti community living in the Trans-Giri region of the state, it will be a year to remember as their long pending demand for Scheduled Tribe status has been approved by the parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated AIIMS Bilaspur, laid foundation stone of Bulk Drug Pharma Park, Una and also flagged off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express from Amb to New Delhi.
Other than the political milieu, the state faced major embarrassment with two instances of the paper leak case, which has not only lowered the credibility of state agencies, but also played with aspirations of the youth.
The Police constable recruitment paper was leaked in the month of May, where more than 170 persons had been named in the case. As the case had inter-state ramifications, the CBI recently took over the case on the request of the previous government.
Another paper leak of Junior Assistant Officer (JOA)-IT that recently surfaced has the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government taking strong exception by suspending the Himachal Pradesh Staff Service Commission (HPSSC), after one of its employees was arrested for involvement.