Amid speculations of changes in the top leadership of the Himachal Pradesh Congress ahead of the Assembly elections, which are only a few months away, experts and a section of party leaders believe that any change at the top at this stage could be detrimental to the party’s electoral prospects as was proved in Punjab.
In Himachal, the Congress had registered a big win in the Assembly and Parliamentary by-elections held in October 2021. The candidates of the ruling BJP lost the by-elections in all three Assembly seats — Fatehpur, Arki, and Jubbal-Kotkhai, and one parliamentary constituency — Mandi to the Congress. The by-polls were being seen as a ‘critical test’ and ‘referendum’ to ascertain the BJP government’s performance and its popularity, besides the Congress’s preparedness to pose a challenge to the ruling party ahead of the Assembly polls.
