Mandi Lok Sabha election results 2024 live: Kangana Ranaut declared winner; INC's Vikramaditya Singh congratulates her

Mandi Lok Sabha election result 2024: One of the most closely-followed battles in Lok Sabha elections 2024 is the ‘royal’ one – the one between the ‘queen’ and the ‘scion’. Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded novice politician but ace actor Kangana Ranaut opposite Vikramaditya Singh, Himachal Pradesh’s PWD minister and son of late six-time chief minister and one of the tallest political figures in the state, Virbhadra Singh. 

MANDI LOK SABHA ELECTIONS RESULT 2024 LATEST UPDATE:

• MANDI SEAT DECLARED: Kangana Ranaut wins seat with 74,755 votes
• Vikramaditya Singh congratulates Kangana Ranaut, who is currently leading with 73,703 votes. "I thank the public of Mandi who voted for me in large numbers….I congratulate BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut for winning Mandi Lok Sabha seat….The arrival of PM Modi, Yogi Adityanath and Nitin Gadkari had an impact on polls," said Singh, adding that INDIA bloc performed very well. 
• Kangana Ranaut continues her lead over Singh
• BJP's Kangana Ranaut is leading over INC's Vikramaditya Singh by 70,210 votes, according to the Election Commission of India. 

The Axis My India-India Today exit poll has predicted a lead for Kangana Ranaut over Vikramaditya Singh. While the scales might tip either way, so far it is a ‘royal’ for the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency.  

Singh, also the son of Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh, said that his focus would include bringing the municipal corporation of Mandi under the Smart City project as well as the construction of the Bhubhu Jot and Jalori Jot tunnels as well as the Kullu Medical College. 

Ranaut, on the other hand, wants to enhance connectivity and promote tourism, generate self-employment avenues, as well as increase remuneration for locals. But the battle for Mandi has taken a murky road with both the candidates taking digs at each other. 

Singh said politics is not a “part-time job” and that she would leave for Mumbai once the poll results are announced. She has been raking up irrelevant issues for entertainment, he alleged. Singh said even BJP leaders are unhappy with her and wondering when she would return to Mumbai. 

Not to be outdone, Ranaut accused the Congress of making derogatory statements against her, and said all the stalled projects by the Congress government, including the construction of an airport in Mandi, would begin again. 

MANDI LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY

After Rajasthan’s Barmer, Mandi is the second-largest parliamentary constituency in India, that covers six districts of Mandi, Chamba, Shimla, Lahaul & Spiti, Kinnaur and Kullu. There are the upper areas of Manali, Kullu, Rampur, Lahaul & Spiti, Kinnaur and Bharmour, as well as the lower regions of Mandi, Sungernagar, Nachan, Anni, Karsog, Banjar, Seraj, Darang, Jogindernagar, Balh and Sarkaghat.

Mandi also has the Rohtang, Sach and Kunzum mountain passes within it. 

MANDI: A LOOKBACK

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, fondly referred to as Raja Saheb and born in the royal Rajput family of Bushahr, was the longest-serving chief minister of the state, and an MP from Mandi thrice. He died in July 2021 at the age of 87. 

Virbhadra Singh made it to the parliament from the Mandi seat in 1971. He was defeated in 1977 amid an anti-Congress wave by Ganga Singh from Janata Party. The Janata Party government later fell, paving the way for Singh again in 1980. 

In 1984, the first-ever non-royal election in Mandi, saw Congress veteran Sukh Ram win the seat. In 1989, BJP fielded Maheshwar Singh, the scion of the Kullu royal family who won the election. In 1996, it was taken back by Sukh Ram again. 

In 1998, Maheshwar Singh was pitted against Pratibha Singh, who lost the seat. Pratibha Singh won the seat for the first time in 2004, and Virbhadra Singh returned to represent the seat in 2009 again. He vacated the seat to become chief minister in 2012, and the seat was won by Pratibha Singh in a by-election in 2013. 

Pratibha was defeated by BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma in 2014. However after Sharma’s sudden death in 2021, Pratibha Singh won the by-election again.