Legislative Assembly elections were held in Himachal Pradesh on 12 November 2022 to elect 68 members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 8 December 2022.
The result was a victory for the Indian National Congress, which returned to power after losing their majority in 2017, continuing a pattern of the incumbent party losing reelection in Himachal Pradesh since 1985. Although the popular vote total differed by less than one percentage point, the BJP managed to win only 25 seats.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu became the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh whereas Mukesh Agnihotri became Deputy Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
Background
The tenure of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly was scheduled to end on 8 January 2023. The previous assembly elections were held in November 2017. After the election, Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government, with Jai Ram Thakur becoming chief minister. The Indian National Congress became the opposition with Mukesh Agnihotri becoming Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Bypolls and defections Since the last assembly elections, several bypolls were held, the most recent of which were won by the Indian National Congress, with it wresting control of the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency and 3 other assembly constituencies.
Congress MLAs Pawan Kumar Kajal and Lakhvinder Singh Rana joined BJP in August 2022. Kajal was the head of Congress Working committee. The defection of the two senior Congress officials was deemed to be a major blow to the party just a few months prior to the Assembly election. On 28 September 2022, Himachal Pradesh state Congress working president and former cabinet minister Harsh Mahajan joined BJP. The defection was another shock to Congress.
Schedule The election schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India on 14 October 2022.
S.No.Poll eventDate1.Notification date17 October 20222.Last date for filing Nominations25 October 20223.Date for scrutiny of nominations27 October 20224.Last date for withdrawal of candidatures29 October 20225.Date of poll12 November 20226.Date of counting8 December 2022 Election statistics Source:
Registered voters Male 28,54,945 Female 27,37,845 Third Gender 38 Total 55,92,828
Candidates Male 388 Female 24 Total 412
Polling stations Urban areas 646 Rural areas 7,235 Total 7,881
Parties and alliances
National Democratic Alliance (India)
+ No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested1. Bharatiya Janata Party Jai Ram Thakur 68
United Progressive Alliance
+ No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested1. Indian National Congress Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu 68
Aam Aadmi Party
+ No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested1. Aam Aadmi Party Surjeet Singh Thakur 67
Left Front
CPI(M) contested the assembly election in alliance with the CPI.
No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested1. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rakesh Singha 112. Communist Party of India Shyam Singh Chauhan 1
Others + No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested1. Bahujan Samaj Party Narayan Singh Azad 532. Rashtriya Devbhumi Party Rumit Singh Thakur 29
Candidates AAP released the first list of 4 candidates on 20 September 2022. Second list of 54 candidates was released on 20 October 2022. Third list of 10 candidates was released on 20 October 2022. AAP's nomination from Darang was withdrawn on 29 October 2022.
CPI(M) released the first list of 11 candidates on 22 September 2022. and second list of 2 candidates on 24 September. However, the earlier lists were withdrawn and a final list of 11 candidates was released on 18 October 2022. It was reported that CPI would contest on 3 seats, but decided to contest on 1 seat only.
Congress released the first list of 46 candidates on 18 October 2022. Second list of 17 candidates was released on 20 October 2022. Congress released third list of 4 candidates on 22 October 2022. Candidate for the remaining 1 seat was named on 25 October 2022.
BJP released the first list of 62 candidates on 19 October 2022. Second list of remaining 6 candidates was released on 20 October 2022. BJP replaced its candidates from Chamba on 20 October 2022 and Kullu on 25 October 2022.
DistrictConstituencyElectors(2022)NDAUPANo. Name PartyCandidatePartyCandidateChamba1Churah (SC)75,468Hans RajYashwant Singh Khanna2Bharmour (ST) 76,046Janak RajThakur Singh Bharmouri3Chamba 81,594Neelam NayyarNeeraj Nayar4Dalhousie73,071Dhavinder Singh Asha Kumari5Bhattiyat78,980Bikram Singh Jaryal Kuldeep Singh PathaniaKangra6Nurpur91,269Ranbir Singh Nikka Ajay Mahajan7Indora (SC)91,569Reeta DhimanMalender Rajan8Fatehpur87,913Rakesh Pathania Bhawani Singh Pathania9Jawali99,572Sanjay Kumar Guleria Chander Kumar10Dehra 83,629Ramesh DhawalaRajesh Sharma11Jaswan-Pragpur77,991Bikram ThakurSurinder Singh Mankotia12Jawalamukhi 78,144Ravinder Singh RaviSanjay Rattan13Jaisinghpur (SC)84,018Ravinder DhimanYadvinder Goma14Sullah1,03,905Vipin Singh ParmarJagdish Sapehia15Nagrota88,867Arun Kumar Mehra Raghubir Singh Bali16Kangra81,583Pawan Kumar KajalSurender Singh Kaku17Shahpur87,723Sarveen ChoudharyKewal Singh Pathania18Dharamshala81,516Rakesh ChoudharySudhir Sharma19Palampur75,481Trilok Kapoor Ashish Butail20Baijnath (SC)89,135Mulkh Raj PremiKishori LalLahaul and Spiti21Lahaul and Spiti (ST) 24,876Ram Lal MarkandaRavi ThakurKullu22Manali73,488Govind Singh ThakurBhuvneshwar Gaur23Kullu89,600Narottam Thakur Sunder Thakur24Banjar73,094Surender Shourie Khimi Ram25Anni (SC)85,643Lokendra KumarBansi Lal KaushalMandi26Karsog (SC)74,909Deepraj KapoorMahesh Raj27Sundernagar81,164Rakesh JamwalSohan Lal Thakur28Nachan (SC)86,208Vinod KumarNaresh Kumar29Seraj81,843Jai Ram ThakurChetram Thakur 30Darang89,086Puranchand Thakur Kaul Singh Thakur31Jogindernagar98,341Prakash RanaSurender Pal Thakur32Dharampur 79,958Rajat ThakurChandershekhar33Mandi 76,957Anil SharmaChampa Thakur34Balh (SC)79,587Inder Singh Gandhi Prakash Chaudhary35Sarkaghat90,837Daleep ThakurPawan KumarHamirpur36Bhoranj (SC) 81,134Anil DhimanSuresh Kumar 37Sujanpur73,922Ranjeet Singh Rajinder Singh Rana38Hamirpur74,861Narinder Thakur Pushpendra Verma39Barsar86,273Maya Sharma Inder Dutt Lakhanpal40Nadaun93,107Vijay Agnihotri Sukhvinder Singh SukhuUna41Chintpurni (SC)82,686Balbir SinghSudarshan Singh Babloo42Gagret82,774Rakesh ThakurChaitanya Sharma43Haroli86,273Ramkumar Mukesh Agnihotri44Una85,254Satpal Singh Satti Satpal Raizada45Kutlehar85,163Virender KanwarDavinder Kumar BhuttoBilaspur46Jhanduta (SC)79,577Jeet Ram KatwalVivek Kumar 47Ghumarwin88,527Rajinder Garg Rajesh Dharmani48Bilaspur83,025Trilok JamwalBumber Thakur49Sri Naina Deviji74,244Randhir Sharma Ram Lal ThakurSolan50Arki 93,852Govind Ram Sharma Sanjay Awasthy51Nalagarh89,828Lakhvinder Singh RanaHardeep Singh Bawa52Doon68,266Paramjeet Singh Ram Kumar Chaudhary53Solan (SC)85,238Rajesh Kashyap Dhani Ram Shandil54Kasauli (SC)67,434Rajiv Saizal Vinod Kumar SultanpuriSirmaur55Pachhad (SC)76,475Reena KashyapDayal Pyari56Nahan83,561Rajeev Bindal Ajay Solanki57Sri Renukaji (SC)72,961Narayan Singh Vinay Kumar58Paonta Sahib82,487Sukh Ram ChaudharyKirnesh Jung59Shillai74,831Baldev Singh Tomar Harshwardhan ChauhanShimla60Chopal79,109Balbir Singh VermaRajneesh Kimta61Theog83,275Ajay Shyam Kuldeep Singh Rathore62Kasumpti65,713Suresh Bhardwaj Anirudh Singh63Shimla48,071Sanjay SoodHarish Janartha64Shimla Rural76,267Ravi Mehta Vikramaditya Singh65Jubbal-Kotkhai71,566Chetan Singh Bragta Rohit Thakur 66Rampur (SC) 74,838Kaul Negi Nand Lal67Rohru (SC) 73,580Shashi Bala Mohan Lal BraktaKinnaur68Kinnaur (ST) 58,836Surat NegiJagat Singh Negi
Campaigns
Aam Aadmi Party On 6 April 2022, AAP held a roadshow in Mandi with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The chief ministrial candidate was ajay kothial. Surjeet Thakur was appointed as President of the state unit in June 2022.
Manifesto
AAP promised 300 units of free electricity to every household, if AAP comes to power.
Aam Aadmi Party published its 10 promises as guarantees of jobs for all youth, unemployment allowance, an advisory board for traders, end of "inspector rule", and corruption-free administration. Employment: jobs for all youth. AAP promised six lakh government jobs for the youth. AAP will bring laws against exam paper leak, conducting all recruitment exams on time, and jobs will be given on merit, not recommendations. Unemployment allowance of ₹3000. Implementation of the Old Pension Scheme. Agriculture: Minimum Support price (MSP) for agricultural products. controlled atmosphere stores, markets, and food processing units; pesticides and fertilizers at cheap rates; Establish apple packaging manufacturing unit. Traders: an advisory board for traders, end of raid raj and "inspector rule", An amnesty scheme for VAT refund. Single window clearance system for tourism projects Corruption-free administration, door step delivery of public services. Free Healthcare: Mohalla clinics similar to Delhi and free healthcare. Free Education: Free education for all till tenth standard. Making temporary teacher posts permanent. Building more schools with quality education. Prevent private schools from exorbitantly raising fees. Women: A monthly allowance of ₹1000 to all women in Himachal Pradesh and double to women above the age of 65. ₹10 lakh annual grant to Panchayats and ₹10,000 salary for panchayat pradhans. Free pilgrimage scheme ₹1 crore compensation for soldiers killed in the line of duty.
Bharatiya Janata Party The BJP has launched ‘Mission Repeat’ with an aim to retain power in the State. BJP leader and PM Narendra Modi held two rallies in Una and Chamba and also inaugurated various projects in state.
BJP has also launched website to seek suggestions for its manifesto.
On 30 October, 30 campaigners of the party held simultaneous rallies in all 68 constituencies.
Manifesto
Youth: BJP promised the "Him Startup" scheme, with a corpus of ₹900 crore for the youth of the state. Employment: Amid criticism by the opposition for unemployment, it announced the created of 8 lakh job opportunities. Health: Creation of 5 new medical colleges. Amount of mobile clinics in every assembly constituency will be doubled. Road infrastructure: All-weather roads will connect all villages with an investment of ₹5,000 crore. Education: Bicycles will be given to girls from class 6 to 12 to go to schools. Setting up of two girls hostels in every district. Pilgrimage: Under the "Shakti" scheme, ₹12,000 crore will be spent over 10 years to develop infrastructure and transportation around areas of religious significance. Agriculture: An additional grant of ₹3,000 annually under the PM - Kisan Nidhi Yojna, 10 lakh farmers will be added to the program. Investigation of Waqf properties as per law under a judicial commission. Salaries: Discrepancies in disbursal of salaries to government workers will be removed. Increased compensation to soldiers' kin killed in the line of duty. GST will be limited to 12% for apple growers. Implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.
Indian National Congress From August 17 to 22, the Indian National Congress organized demonstrations throughout Himachal Pradesh as a part of its "Mehangai Chaupal". The block units of the Himachal PCC protested in all the 68 constituencies against price rise and inflation. The protests were a part of the wider "Halla Bol" demonstrations organized by the Congress against the BJP-led government in Delhi.
On 31 August 2022, the Indian National Congress launched its manifesto with its 10 guarantees in Himachal Ka Sankalp.
On 14 October 2022, Congress started its campaign with its "Parivartan Pratigya Rally" in Solan with senior Congress leaders, Priyanka Gandhi, Pratibha Singh, Mukesh Agnihotri, and Bhupesh Baghel.