Rakesh Singha beat Congress’s Deepak Rahour and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Rakesh Verma in the election. After nearly a quarter century, a Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, leader finally steps into the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly. Monday’s victory of labour rights activist and farmers leader Rakesh Singha makes it only the fourth time a CPM member has ever been elected to the state assembly. What makes Singha’s victory even more remarkable is that since 1982, either Stokes or BJP’s Rakesh Singh has always won Theog. Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of CPM tweeted #LalSalam for the historic victory in Theog.

Source: Mint December 18, 2017 20:03 UTC