Congress has dislodged BJP to capture power in the hill state of Himachal by winning the state Assembly elections. Congress managed to win 36 Assembly seats out of total 68 seats in the state Assembly, thus securing absolute majority. The ruling BJP was restricted to 26 seats and others managed to get six seats. The break away faction of BJP Himachal Loktantrik Party HLP managed to win only one seat.
The state Congress president, Mr Virbadhra Singh, who many believe is the man responsible for Congress’s victory, won by the margin of 20,000 votes by defeating Mr Iswar Rohal of BJP from Shimla rural constituency.
Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal won by margin of more than 9,000 votes defeating his nearest rival Narinder Thakur of Congress.
Mr Balak Ram Bragta of Congress from Rohru constituency won by the highest margin of 28,415 votes in the state by defeating BJP rival.
As many as four BJP Cabinet ministers lost elections, horticulture minister Narendra Bragta lost from Jubbal Kotkhai constituency in Shimla district, industry minister Kishan Kapoor lost from Dharamsala constituency and civil supplies minister Ramesh Dhawala lost from Jawlamukhi constituency and Khimi Ram from Kullu.
Himachal lived up to its reputation of kicking out the incumbent government as is the trend since last three decades in the state. It seems that BJP’s effort to build its campaign around the failure of Union government to control price rise and check corruption did not cut much ice with the electorate of the state, as local issues ultimately decided the fate of the candidates.
The battle to the Himachal Assembly was considered close fight between Congress and the BJP. However in the end, Congress managed to capture power with reasonable comfort. The battle was also a clash of personality between chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and five time chief minister, state congress president Virbahdhra Singh.
Mr Prem Dhumal’ s promise to provide free induction plates to the electorate, in wake of LPG cylinder prise rise failed to attract votes even though it generated lot of interest. The corruption charges on Mr Virbadhra Singh by the BJP failed to work to their advantage, as results show that Congress has done particularly well in the areas of his influence.
Interestingly Congress party has done well in the bigger districts of the state. Kangra, which is one of the biggest districts of the state with 15 Assembly seats, the party won as many as 11 seats.
Similarly in Shimla district where there are total eight seats, Congress won six seats and one seat was won by its rebel. In Mandi district both Congress and BJP managed to get 5 seats each. These three big districts of the state constitute half the number of total seats in the state.