ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 New Leadership in Himachal Pradesh Ends Dominance of Two Clans HARISH K THAKUR Harish K Thakur (
[email protected]) is with the Department of Political Science, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Vol. 53, Issue No. 12, 24 Mar, 2018 The anti-establishment tradition was kept alive in the Himachal Pradesh state legislative assembly elections in November 2017 as the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power, banking upon the issues of crime, corruption, and development. Keeping in view the ground reality of the state, the BJP’s Central Election Committee was forced to declare Prem Kumar Dhumal as its chief ministerial candidate and to lead the election campaign. The elections ushered in a new era in the state’s politics by marking an end to the rule of two dominant clans that had led politics in Himachal Pradesh for about four decades. It can be argued whether Western liberal democracy overwhelms all, but elections in the post- Cold War era have certainly become more marginalised. However, the fear expressed by Kofi Annan in 2015 that elections have failed to resolve deep-seated political and social divisions, and hence, have created doubts about the value of democracy through the ballot box, could be perceived in the Indian scenario too. This lends credence to the discourse that the actual intent of the voter sometimes gets lost in the political imperatives of parliamentary democracy. The communication between the electors and the contestants in the electoral process is subject to several factors. While sociological factors like religion, caste, race, language, and region play a significant role, dynamic factors like the issues of development, governance ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 and leadership also influence the process.