It will be no cakewalk for the popular faces in four constituencies of Kullu district in the 2017 Himachal Assembly polls, be it the BJP or the Congress.

While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims that the recent rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kullu had been a huge success, the position of its two popular faces is in a tight spot, amidst tough two-cornered fight.

Apart from a stiff fight from their Congress counterparts, the rebel factor in one of the constituencies is also likely to dent the party’s prospects.

The state goes to polls on November 9 and 2,91442 voters of the four constituencies falling under Kullu district will decide the fate of candidates contesting the elections.

Despite riding high on anti-incumbency factor in the state, the Kullu constituency having royal scion Maheshwar Singh as the BJP candidate is witnessing a direct fight from Congress candidate Sunder Singh Thakur. A four time, Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) and also a three-time MP from Mandi, Maheshwar Singh started his political innings in 1977 on the JNP ticket from Banjar.

Later in 1982, Singh won the seat from Banjar on the BJP ticket. In 1985, he contested from Banjar on the BJP ticket, but lost to Satya Prakash Thakur by a margin of 567 votes. In 2012, he parted ways from the BJP, floated his own party HLP and won the Kullu seat. He got 18,582 votes. Meanwhile, Thakur, too, is not new for the public, as he had contested the last Assembly elections in 2012 and had got 14,830 votes.

In the Manali constituency, the ‘rebel’ candidate –Gajender Thakur – is known to have a considerable influence among the people and is capable of playing a spoilsport to BJP’s Govind Thakur’s chances. Denied the BJP ticket Gajender, who is also related to Govind Thakur, is contesting as an Independent.

This might give a slight edge to Congress candidate Hari Chand Sharma, more so, after Dharam Vir Dhammi, who had revolted against the Congress for not getting the ticket, was pacified and is back in the Congress after 10 years. Dhammi in 2012 had contested as an Independent and got 14,346 votes, while Govind Thakur got 17,647 votes.

The third, Banjar constituency, will see Aditiya Vikram Singh — son of Karan Singh a three-time MLA and former Ayurveda minister of the incumbent Congress government who died last May — contest on the seat.

The constituency is facing a neck-to-neck fight, on an insider versus outsider issue, where Surender Shourie, the BJP candidate, is playing on the ‘dharti putra’ card. It is for the first time in last 40 years since Banjar became a constituency that a local is contesting for the seat.

Earlier, in 1972 a local Dile Ram from Congress had won the Inner Seraj seat. In 1977 and 1982  (Maheshwar Singh), 1985 (Satya Prakash) (Congress), 1990 (Karan Singh) (Congress), 2003 and 2007 (Khimi Ram) (BJP) and in 2012 Karan Singh had won the Banjar seat.