With Only 2 Wins, ‘Royals’ Losing Their Charm In Himachal Pradesh

Shimla:

The erstwhile royals of Himachal Pradesh who once commanded their own space in politics are losing their charm as only two of them have won in the hill state this time while two others lost at the hustings.

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh, who belongs to Rampur Bushahr’s erstwhile royal family, won with a big margin of 13,860 votes from Shimla rural, while Anirudh Singh of the erstwhile royal family of Koti, won from Kasumpti assembly seat.

Virbhadra Singh had dominated the state politics for over four decades and had been its chief minister several times. His wife Pratibha Singh, also hailing from the Keonthal royal family, is currently the state Congress chief and is among one of the frontrunners for the chief minister’s post.

While Vikramaditya Singh defeated BJP’s Ravi Mehta, Anirudh Singh defeated outgoing Urban Development minister Suresh Bhardwaj of BJP by a margin of 8,865 votes. Bhardwaj had changed his seat from Shimla Urban to Kasumpti.

On the other hand, former minister and six-time MLA Asha Kumari lost the elections from her Dalhousie seat this time. She lost by a margin of 9,918 votes.

She had won the Dalhousie seat six times in a row, before losing this time.

Another erstwhile royal of Kullu, Hiteshwar Singh, who ran as an independent, also lost from the Banjar assembly seat. He got 14,932 votes against the winner BJP’s Surender Shourie’s 24,241 votes and Congress’ Khimi Ram’s 19,963 votes.

Another erstwhile royal Maheshwar Singh, who is Hiteshwar’s father, was also in the fray this election but had withdrawn in favour of the BJP.

He was initially nominated by the BJP as its official candidate but was denied the ticket after his son Hiteshwar Singh filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Banjar constituency.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)