Mandi (Lok Sabha constituency)

Mandi Lok Sabha constituency is one of the four Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. Mandi Parliamentary constituency already emerged as a hot bed of politics where not only the BJP and the Congress will fight for their prestige, but is the only seat in the state where the Left front has popped up a candidate.[1] The constituency was represented by Rani Amrit Kaur of the erstwhile Patiala state during 1952-57, while these areas of Himachal were still part of Punjab. In the Lok Sabha elections that followed in 1957, the seat was represented by Raja Joginder Sen of the erstwhile Mandi state, who represented the seat till 1962. In the following elections that year Raja Lalit Sen of Sundarnagar or the erstwhile Suket state was elected. He repeated his victory in the 1967 elections.

However, in period from 1977 to 1979, the constituency was represented by Ganga Singh who represented the Janata Party, which came to power at the centre immediately after the elections that followed the imposition of emergency in the country and the Congress, under Indira Gandhi was routed. He defeated Congress candidate Virbhadra Singh.

Then came along the man, who called himself the son-of-the-soil, Sukh Ram. He switched from state politics to the Parliament and won comfortably in 1985. In the next election, however, it was again another blue-blooded royal, Maheshwar Singh, scion of the erstwhile Kullu state who drubbed the son-of-the-soil at the polls.

But Sukh Ram bounced back and won again in 1994, but was expelled from the Congress a couple of years later, following the reported recovery of large amounts of cash from his residence. To re-establish his political dominion Sukh Ram floated Himachal Vikas Congress and came back into politics with a bang – winning five Assembly seats in 1998 along with wresting Shimla (reserved) parliamentary seat from the Congress in 1999. In 1998, Sukh Ram’s HVC under an alliance with the BJP supported the candidature of Maheshwar Singh, who won easily. In 2004, Congress candidate Pratibha Singh defeated Maheshwar Singh. In the last Parliament elections 2009, Congress candidate Virbhadra Singh defeated Maheshwar Singh by a very small gap.[2]

Contents

Assembly segments

Mandi Lok Sabha constituency presently comprises the following 17 Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments[1]:

  1. Bharmour
  2. Lahaul & Spiti
  3. Manali
  4. Kullu
  1. Banjar
  2. Anni
  3. Karsog
  4. Sundernagar
  1. Nachan
  2. Seraj
  3. Darang
  4. Jogindernagar
  1. Mandi
  2. Balh
  3. Sarkaghat
  4. Rampur
  1. Kinnaur

Members of Parliament

Election results

General Election, 1951: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Amrit Kaur 47,152 26.89
Congress Gopi Ram 41,433 26.63
KMPP Tej Singh 19,872 11.33
SCF Anokhi Ram 18,988 10.83
Socialist Muni Lal 16,780 9.57
BJS Hari Dutt 12,053 6.87
Independent Kahan Singh 19,099 10.89
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from KMPP Swing
General Election, 1957: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Joginder Sen Bahadur 57,530 63.47
CPI Mast Ram 0 00.00
Independent Anand Chand 33,110 36.53
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from CPI Swing
General Election, 1962: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Lalit Sen 46,856 63.56
Swatantra Party Ambika Kumari 20,600 27.95
BJS Kuldip Singh 2,742 3.72
Independent Tej Singh 3,516 4.77
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from Swatantra Party Swing
General Election, 1967: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Lalit Sen 62,596 51.65
Independent I. Singh 28,331 23.38
Independent D.S.Ram 26,877 22.18
Independent N.D. Joshi 3,377 2.79
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from [[I. Singh|]] Swing
General Election, 1971: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Virbhadra Singh 1,14,957 71.95
LRP Mandhar Lal 25,780 16.14
NCO Gauri Prashad 6,344 3.97
Independent Nawal Thakur 4,914 3.08
Independent Mahavr Prashad 4,587 0.87
Independent Tulsi Ram 3,182 1.99
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from LRP Swing
General Election, 1977: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Virbhadra Singh 1,02,638 39.52
BLD Ganga Singh 1,38,143 53.19
CPI(M) Tara Chand 8,950 3.45
Independent Nawal Thakur 7,817 3.01
Independent Ani Rudh 2,167 0.83
Majority
Turnout
BLD gain from Congress Swing
General Election, 1980: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
IC(S) Virbhadra Singh 1,66,949 56.60
Janata Party Ganga Singh 1,08,595 36.82
JNP(S) Bhagat Guru 12,544 4.25
Independent Puran Mal 4,626 1.57
Independent Naval Thakur 2,255 0.76
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from Janata Party Swing
General Election, 1984: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Sukh Ram 2,24,146 67.52
BJP Madhukar Singh 92,495 27.86
INC(J) Nand Singh 3,817 1.15
Janata Party Het Ram 2,331 0.70
Independent Kamal Kishore 2,921 0.88
Independent Narpat Ram Chauhan 2,616 0.79
Independent Nawal Thakur 2,453 0.74
Independent Durga Singh Rathore 1,194 0.36
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from BJP Swing
General Election, 1989: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Sukh Ram 2,06,095 44.33
BJP Maheshwar Singh 2,34,164 50.36
CPI(M) D.N. Kapoor 9,736 2.09
Doordarshi Party O.M. Prakash 5,510 1.19
BSP Dharam Singh 4,489 0.97
Janata Party Naval Thaur 3,423 0.74
Independent Raj Kumar 1,530 0.33
Majority
Turnout
BJP gain from Congress Swing
General Election, 1991: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Sukh Ram 2,33,380 49.70
BJP Maheshwar Singh 2,06,753 44.03
Janata Dal Karam Singh 18,112 3.86
Shiv Sena Subh Ram Thakray 790 0.15
Doordarshi Party Om Prakash 3970 0.85
Janata Party Prem Singh Thakur 2,829 0.60
Independent Om Dutt Sharma 1,954 0.37
Independent Krishan Lal Sharma 1049 0.20
Independent Amar Nirogotra 936 0.18
Independent Nawal Thakur 768 0.15
Independent Gian Chand Paniala 739 0.14
Independent Jeevan Parkash Sharma 695 0.13
Independent Brikam Ram 449 0.09
Independent Ramesh Kumar Garla 294 0.06
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from BJP Swing
General Election, 1996: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Sukh Ram 3,28,186 62.44
BJP Adan Singh Thakur 1,74,963 33.29
Samajwadi Party Ganga Singh 6,460 1.23
Shiv Sena Subh Ram Thakray 790 0.15
IC(T) Chandermani Sharma 3,717 0.71
Independent Amar Nirgotra 4,608 0.88
Independent Kanshi Ram 1,954 0.37
Independent Devender Sharma 1049 0.20
Independent Bal Krishan 936 0.18
Independent Diwan Chand Gupta 768 0.15
Independent Ramesh Chand Gautam 739 0.14
Independent Jeevan Parkash Sharma 695 0.13
Independent Brikam Ram 449 0.09
Independent Ramesh Kumar Garla 294 0.06
Majority
Turnout
Congress gain from BJP Swing
General Election, 1998: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Pratibha Singh 1,72,378 35.38
BJP Maheshwar Singh 3,04,210 62.44
Himachal Vikas Congress Sukh Ram 8,304 1.70
Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Dinanath 1,265 0.26
Independent Amar Nirgotra 1081 0.22
Majority
Turnout
BJP gain from Congress Swing
General Election, 1999: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Kaul Singh 1,94,904 37.11
BJP Maheshwar Singh 3,25,929 62.05
NCP Ravi Thakur 3,657 0.7
Independent Amar Nirgotra 750 0.14
Majority
Turnout 5,28,636 54.56
BJP gain from Congress Swing
General Election, 2004: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Pratibha Singh 357,623 53.41
BJP Maheshwar Singh 291,057 43.47
BSP Mohan Lal Sahni 8,671 1.30
Independent Shah Mohammad 8,076 1.21
Independent Kashmir Singh Guleria 4,125 0.62
Majority 66,566
Turnout 669,552 62.91
Congress gain from BJP Swing
General Election, 2009: Mandi
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Congress Virbhadra Singh 3,40,973 47.82 -5.59
BJP Maheshwar Singh 3,26,976 45.85 +2.38
BSP Lala Ram 10,131 1.42 +0.12
CPI(M) DR. ONKAR SHAD 20,664 2.89
RWS Hookam Chand Shastri 7,877 1.10
Independent Shan Mohammad 6,405 0.89
Majority
Turnout 7,13,026 64.09 +1.18
Congress gain from BJP Swing

The Election Commission Officer, Anil Khachi, also revealed that 7251 main Polling Stations and 2 Auxiliary polling stations are being setup in the Four Parliamentary Constituencies for Lok Sabha Elections – 2009 in the State. 1259 Polling Stations have been declared as sensitive while 708 polling Stations have been classified as Hypersensitive to ensure free and fair elections in the State. The maximum number of Hyper Sensitive Polling Stations is 197 in Kangra District, he added. However, the largest number of Polling Stations was 1921 in 2-Mandi Parliamentary Constituency, including the Auxiliary Polling Station in Jogindernagar Assembly Constituency.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Parliamentary Constituency Wise Result of H.P. of Lok Sabha Elections-2009". Chief Electoral Officer, Himachal Pradesh website. http://ceohimachal.nic.in/BKGROUND/PC%20wise%20Result%20of%20H.P.pdf. Retrieved 5 November 2010. 
  2. ^ "Mandi Parliamentary Constituency". Himvani. http://www.himvani.com/news/2009/03/11/mandi-seat-a-test-of-nerves-for-cong-bjp/2404. 
Lok Sabha constituencies of Himachal Pradesh
Mandi  · Kangra  · Hamirpur  · Shimla