Mandi has won 13 times since 1951, making him a pillar of the Congress

In the 19 general elections and 13 byelections held since 1951, the Congress has controlled the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Five times, the BJP has fielded candidates; the Janata Party candidate prevailed in the 1977 election.

Following 1971, the family of former Union Minister Sukh Ram and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh were involved in local politics. Virbhadra Singh won the seat three times, Sukh Ram won the seat three times, and Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra’s wife and the head of the state Congress, won the seat three times as well. Additionally, Lalit Sen has won this congressional seat twice. Joginder Sen and Amrit Kaur, the candidates for Congress, had won the elections in 1957 and 1951, respectively.

But after 1989, the BJP had won five times in the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, with Maheshwar Singh winning three times and Ram Swaroop Sharma winning two. In contrast, the Congress candidates had won the seat six times. Whether Virbhadra Singh and Sukh Ram’s families have succeeded or failed in politics, the Congress high command has been selecting its candidates for the last 50 years. Once, after such a long time, the Congress had chosen Kaul Singh as their candidate in 1999, ignoring the families, but Singh was unable to secure a victory.

After the BJP awarded actress Kangana Ranaut the ticket, all eyes are on the Mandi parliamentary seat, and talks about the Congress party’s candidate are underway. The Congress finds itself in a difficult situation since Pratibha Singh, the current Member of Parliament for the seat, has declined to run for office. She was seen as the most desirable candidate for the Mandi seat since she had won the 2021 by-election. According to sources, the party’s high leadership may attempt to appease Pratibha. It is now unclear whether Pratibha will be able to prepare for the elections or if the Congress party will choose a different candidate.

In the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, which has 17 Assembly constituencies, the Congress had just five MLAs. However, after the recent resignation of Lahaul and Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur, the Congress now only has four MLAs.

In the 1999 General Elections, prominent Congress politician Kaul Singh Thakur was defeated by Maheshwar Singh of the BJP by a margin of 1,31,025 votes. In contrast, Sukh Ram’s grandson Ashray Sharma was the Congressman’s nominee in 2019; nevertheless, BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma won by a margin of 4,05,459 votes. By a margin of 7,490 votes, Pratibha Singh defeated BJP candidate Brig (retd) Khushal Thakur in the 2021 byelection.