Actor Kangana Ranaut has defeated Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, heir of the Rampur royal family and son of the late Virbhadra Singh, a six-time Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, in her political debut as a candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
As per the Election Commission of India’s website, Kangana polled 5,27,463 votes as of 4:30 PM as against Singh’s 4,53,760 votes.
Of the four Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, Mandi registered the highest voter turnout at 82.3 percent, followed by Kangra at 80.9 percent, with Hamirpur and Shimla (SC) each at 79.9 percent.
Mandi in Himachal Pradesh is renowned for its abundance of ancient temples and stands out for electing former royals more often than any other area. It is also the largest constituency in the state by geographical area.
The Mandi Lok Sabha seat, once dominated by Congress, has shifted towards the BJP in the last two elections. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma defeated Congress’s Pratibha Singh, a former two-time MP, by 39,000 votes.
In the 2019 elections, Ram Swaroop Sharma retained the seat with a substantial margin, securing 647,189 votes. After the death of MP Ram Sharma, his wife Pratibha chose not to run for office following Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut’s announcement of her candidacy from Mandi.
