The Congress has won the Mandi parliamentary byelection in Himachal on Sunday after its candidate Pratibha Singh — wife of chief minister Virbadhra Singh — defeated BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur by a margin of 1.37 lakh votes.
The victory margin is considered huge keeping in view the low voting turnout of 52 per cent. Ms Singh had been elected for the second time as a MP, earlier she had won in 2004 election from Mandi but she had not contested the 2009 election, instead, her husband Virbhadra Singh contested from Mandi and won the election.
The chief minister has thanked the Mandi parliamentary constituency voters for the landslide victory of Ms Singh and said that it is the victory of the ideology and leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Singh said that the victory has showed that the people have expressed their faith and confidence in the programmes and policies of the state government.
He has specially thanked the voters of the Kinnaur district who overwhelmingly voted for the Congress candidate despite of the natural calamity in the region and assured them that the government will reciprocate with the same spirit for ensuring a speedy development work and undertaking massive relief and rehabilitation works in the region to bring normalcy in the area.
Interestingly, Mandi parliamentary seat has some of the toughest polling stations that could be reached only on foot. Mandi parliamentary constituency has world’s highest polling station at Hikkim village of Lahaul-Spiti that is situated at a height of 15,000 feet.