HLP chief’s son beats cousin in close contest

Our Correspondent

KULLU, JANuary 8

Hiteshwar Singh, son of Kullu MLA and Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) supremo Maheshwar Singh, won the zila parishad seat from Raila. He defeated his cousin Aditya Vikram Singh, president, Mandi Youth Congress and son of Ayurveda and Cooperative Minister Karan Singh.

BJP-supported Ravinder Pal, HLP rebel Shastri Inderdev Prashar and Bhadru were also in the fray from the ward, which had become a hot seat in the zila parishad poll of this district.

Hiteshwar secured 7,838 votes of the total 17,299 votes polled and Aditya Vikram secured 4,891 votes. He lost by a margin of 2,947 votes. Ravinder Pal managed to bag 3,207 votes while Prashar secured 583 votes and Bhadru bagged 85 votes.

Former zila parishad vice-chairperson Dhaneshwari Thakur won by a narrow margin of 71 votes from Nasogi ward in Manali. Prem Lata Thakur, former Zila Parishad member and wife of former minister Satya Prakash Thakur, won by a margin of 4,591 votes from Balh.

While BJP-backed contenders had won in seven of the 14 zila parishad seats of this district, only three Congress supporters achieved victory.