Following the victory of two staunch supporters of former minister and MLA Rakesh Pathania in two out of four Zila Parishad (ZP) wards in the Nurpur constituency, a new political equation is likely to emerge ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.
Although the BJP fielded official candidates in all four ZP wards, Pathania’s loyalists contested independently against both the BJP and Congress, campaigning solely in Pathania’s name. As a result, all four wards witnessed fierce triangular contests among the BJP, Congress, and Pathania’s faction.
Political observers view these ZP election results as a sign of Pathania’s imminent political revival and a comeback in his native Nurpur Assembly constituency.
Pathania had previously been shifted from Nurpur to the Fatehpur constituency, where he lost in the 2022 Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the BJP fielded Ranbir Singh Nikka from Nurpur, who secured a landslide victory.
Buoyant over the results, Pathania’s supporters have flooded social media with a poster featuring his image and the defiant message: “Tiger is back, tiger never dies. Back to his home to serve people.”
Congress candidate Kavita Devi got 4,873 votes in Bhaleta ward and defeated BJP’s Anuradha Singh who secured 4,650 votes.
BJP’s Anup Singh won from Bhadwar ward by defeating Congress candidate Bikram Singh. The duo secured 4,758 and 4,578 votes respectively.
Pathania supporter Kahan Singh swept MLA Ranbir Singh’s native Baranda ward by securing 5,828 votes and defeating BJP’s Ajay Kumar who got 5,550 votes.
In the Mamooh-Gurchal ward Pathania supporter Gulbant Singh won the election by securing 7,113 votes while BJP’s Surjeet Singh got 6,586 votes.
“A poster with photo of former minister Rakesh Pathania that has gone viral on social media in Nurpur.
