Himachal Pradesh's CM-elect Jai Ram Thakur is a five-time MLA, who won the Seraj seat in the recently concluded elections with a margin of over 11,000 votes. He started as an active student leader in RSS-affiliated ABVP and later joined the BJP's youth wing in the 1990s. Thakur has earlier served as state Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.