Gaddi leaders meet with the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and request a ticket for the Dharamsala bypoll

Gaddi leaders from the Dharamsala Assembly seat met with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu last night and asked him to give a community leader the Congress ticket for the next byelection.

The Chief Minister was reportedly greeted by a number of senior BJP leaders, including Vipin Nehria, the party’s former president for the Kangra district’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha. These images of the meeting were shared on social media. Nehria ran as an independent in the 2022 Assembly elections because the BJP offered Rakesh Chaudhary, a Dharamsala-based OBC politician, a ticket. Chaudhary received around 2,000 votes.

Since the BJP has selected Congress dissident Sudhir Sharma to run in the Dharamsala byelection, the Gaddi leaders have been vigorously promoting the Congress ticket. Additionally, the Gaddi community demanded a Congress ticket during a recent demonstration in Dharamsala. They had vowed to run their candidate as an Independent in the byelection if the community was not given the congressional ticket.

The divisive voting patterns of the Gaddi group in Dharamsala have the potential to alter the political landscape of the constituency. Although there is a substantial Gaddi population in Dharamsala, no community leader has ever prevailed in elections while running as an independent from the constituency. Congress leaders believe that giving a Gaddi leader a ticket may inspire other groups to support the BJP. Other leaders think that because the Gaddi community will support him, it may also benefit the congressional candidate.

According to sources, the community may put up an independent candidate if the Congress refuses to provide a ticket to a Gaddi leader. In addition to the Gaddi leaders, Rakesh Chaudhary, the head of the OBC, has applied for the Congress ticket. After the BJP nominated Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, he left the organisation. Sharma defeated Chaudhary in the 2022 Assembly elections, which he had run from the Dharamsala seat. Additionally, Chaudhary is counting on the OBC vote bank in the seat of Dharamsala.

The Congress will have to tread carefully when choosing a candidate who appeals to everyone. The strategy and calculations of both the Congress and BJP in the Dharamsala seat would be impacted if Gaddi and the leaders of the OBC contest the byelection as Independent candidates.