Himachal Pradesh Elections 2022: Key contenders for chief minister post - one from BJP and three from Congress

Himachal Pradesh will vote on November 12 to elect a new government. The ruling BJP faces two-sided challenge from the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. 

While the BJP has reposed its faith on Chief Minister Jairam Thakur to retain power in the state, the Congress has three senior leaders who are seen as the key contenders for the chief minister’s post. 

Jairam Thakur - BJP

The incumbent chief minister will be contesting the polls from the Seraj Assembly seat. He has won consecutive five Assembly polls from Chachiot and Seraj (delimited constituency of Chachiot) in Mandi since 1998 and was the panchayati raj and rural development minister during 2009-2012 in the previous BJP government.

Thakur started his political journey with ABVP and also held the position of state secretary of BJYM from 1993 to 1995. In 2006, he was made Himachal Pradesh state president of BJP.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP ousted the incumbent Congress from power, but the saffron party’s leader and CM face Prem Kumar Dhumal lost.

Pratibha Singh - Congress

Pratibha Singh was first elected to Lok Sabha in 2004 from Mandi seat which was also represented by her late Virbhadra Singh earlier. As an MP, she remained a member in committees in Social and Justice Empowerment, Ministry of Tourism and Public Undertaking. 

Pratibha defeated present CM Jairam Thakur from the same seat in the 2013 bypolls which was vacated after Virbhadra took the CM post. She also won the Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll last year after it was vacated following the death of BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma. 

Mukesh Agnihotri - Congress

Mukesh - a four-time Congress MLA - has been the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly after being elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader following the November 2017 Himachal Assembly polls. 

Contesting from the Haroli seat this time, Agnihotri fought his first assembly election in 2003 from Santokgarh (now known as Haroli) in Una district and was re-elected in 2007. He went on to win from the Haroli constituency, which was known as Santokhgarh before delimitation, in the 2012 and 2017 Assembly polls.

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu - Congress

Sukhvinder Singh, party’s former state president, is contesting from Nadaun Assembly constituency. The three-time MLA, who is the head of the party’s state election committee, has lately emerged as a CM face.

Singh, a three-time MLA from Himachal Pradesh, has garnered support among the party workers and locals. “The party is contesting elections under collective leadership. High command will decide the chief minister, if we are voted to power in Himachal. I am not keen on the position,” he said.