Congress candidate Raghuvir Singh Thakur is a son of late Devi Singh Thakur, former forest minister who represented the constituency as an Independent from 1967 to 1972, as a Janata Party legislator from 1977 to 1982 and as Congress MLA from 1982 to 1989. Besides, Raghuvir is chairman of the Lahoul Potato Growers Co-operative Society (LPS). The mother of Ravi Thakur Lata Thakur was a Congress legislator and a popular leader from the tribal area, who had defeated Devi Singh in the 1972 elections and represented the seat until her demise in a tragic road mishap during the Emergency in 1975.

Ram Lal Markanda, HVC candidate, is a former NSUI leader and does not have any family political history. Reckoned as a lightweight initially, he has covered lot of ground in the Lahaul Valley, particularly after Public Works Minister and HVC leader Mahender Singh Thakur started his extensive tour of the constituency.

Congress candidate Raghuvir Thakur, regarded as a heavyweight in the beginning, is dependent on the support of Phunchog Rai, a former tribal development minister, in the Spiti Valley. Interestingly, Rai was not allotted the Congress ticket despite having represented the constituency from 1990 to 1993 and from 1993 to 1997. This fact has annoyed many Congressmen in Spiti.

There are in all 20,567 voters in the constituency but the voters of Spiti, though fewer in numbers as compared to their Lahaul brethern, have always played a key role in deciding the fate of the candidates. An interesting fact is that all the three candidates belong to the Lahaul Valley and each one of them has Congress background.

Retired BJP candidate Ram Nath Sahni has been appealing to party workers to support HVC candidate. Yuvraj Fakiru, general secretary of state BJP scheduled tribes cell, has launched a door-to-door campaign in support of the HVC candidate. The BJP cadre will play a significant role in ensuring support for the HVC nominee.

The Congress candidate has made support price for seed potato, the main local cash crop, as his main agenda and is drawing upon the achievements of his late father in the development of the tribal belt. The HVC nominee promises construction of a tunnel in Lahaul, marketing arrangement for hops and 25 pc rise in the daily wages in the tribal areas. Ravi Thakur, Independent candidate, goes round promising promotion of adventure tourism and best marketing arrangement for seed potato. Sources close to Ravi feel that he would get support from Tod, Miyar and Spiti valleys of the constituency.

The main factors, which may cause a division of votes among the three candidates in Lahaul valley, are their common native and political background. While Congress candidate hails from Bargul, HVC candidate comes from Udaipur and Ravi Thakur, Independent candidate, belongs to the Tod belt in Lahaul. But the denial of Congress ticket to Phunchog Rai may affect the prospects of Congress nominee in the Spiti sub-division.