Himachal election results: Congress wrests Himachal Pradesh from BJP; wins 40 of 68 seats, BJP gets 25

The Congress on Thursday wrested Himachal Pradesh from the BJP winning 40 seats in the 68member Assembly in the hill state which maintained its tradition of not voting any incumbent government to power since 1985According to the results declared by the Election Commission the BJP won 25 seats while eight state ministers including Suresh Bhardwaj Ram Lal Markanda and Surveen Chaudhary lostThe Independents won from three constituencies and the Aam Aadmi Party which had contested from 67 seats failed to open its accountCongress secures 4390 pc vote share BJP close behind with 43 pcThe Congress secured 4390 per cent vote share as it wrested Himachal Pradesh from the BJP winning 40 seats in the 68member Assembly in the hill state which maintained its tradition of voting incumbent government out of power since 1985Despite getting 43 per cent vote share BJP could only manage to win 25 seats with many segments witnessing lower victory marginsThree Independents also emerged victorious in the November 12 assembly polls The vote share was up for the Congress as against previous assembly electionsCong leaders workers celebrate partys win in Himachal pollsCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge hailed the people of Himachal Pradesh and his party leaders as the Congress secured a muchneeded win riding on antiincumbency and a slew of poll promises including bringing back the old pension scheme and providing jobs to the youth and Rs 1500 to every womanParty leader Rahul Gandhi assured the people that every promise made by the Congress will be fulfilledCong to hold meeting of newlyelected Himachal MLAs in Shimla on FridayThe Congress has convened a meeting of all its newlyelected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh in Shimla on Friday and the meet is likely to pass a resolution authorising the Congress president to elect the CLP leaderAlso Read Support to BJP reflects anger against dynasty rule PM Modi to BJP workersThe Congress vote share was 439 per cent and the BJPs was 43 per cent a gap of less than one per cent which was highlighted by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief J P Nadda in their address to party workers in Delhi after the poll results were declaredThe BJP had given the slogan of Raj nahin riwaz badlega which translates to the convention will change not the government but failed to buck the trend Himachal Pradesh has not voted any incumbent government to power since 1985Nadda thanks BJP workersNadda thanked the BJP workers for their hard work in his home state Himachal Pradesh and asserted raj may have changed but riwaz also changed as there was a gap of less than 1 per cent in vote share of the top two partiesThe BJP and the Congress contested on all 68 constituenciesAAP whose campaign had tapered after the initial phase bagged 110 percent of votes The CPI M which fought on eleven seats also did not win any seat and its sitting MLA from Theog lost It got 066 percent of votes Independents and others got 1039 percent while 059 percent of votes went to NOTACM Thakur tenders resignation to GovernorOutgoing Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on many seats the victory margin was narrow He said on nearly eleven to twelve seats the winning margin was below 1000 votesThe lowest margin of 60 votes was registered by Suresh Kumar of Congress from Bhoranj seatThakur defeated his nearest Congress rival Chet Ram by 38183 votes from the formers Seraj seat in Mandi district It was the highest victory margin in these electionsIf you also see vote share the difference between Congress and BJP is just about one percent Despite that Congress registered a win on many seats But we respect the mandate Thakur said before resigningWe will give constructive support rising above partisan politics but where we feel interests of the state are not being protected we will raise the issues before people he said and expressed the hope that the new Congress government will fulfil its election promisesGovernor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has accepted his resignation official sources told PTIPM Modi thanks votersWhile the BJP was celebrating its stupendous victory in Gujarat Prime Minister Modi also thanked the voters of the hill state for their affection and support to the party and said it will keep working to fulfil the aspirations of the state and raise peoples issuesProminent winners and losersAmong the prominent winners and losers Congress leaders and chief ministerial aspirants including Asha Kumari Ram Lal Thakur and Kaul Singh suffered shock defeatsFormer Union minister Sukh Rams son Anil Sharma of the BJP retained his Mandi Sadar seat defeating his rival from the CongressBJP candidate D S Thakur defeated sixtime Congress MLA Asha Kumari in Dalhousie assembly seat by a margin of 9918 votes Asha Kumari was among the chief ministerial probablesHoshiyar Singh from Dehra and K L Thakur from Nalagarh are among the three Independents who wonFormer Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singhs son and sitting Congress MLA from Shimla Rural Vikramaditya Singh retained his seat by defeating his nearest rival Ravi Kumar Mehta of the BJP by 13860 votesOf the 24 women who were in the fray only BJPs Reena Kashyap won from Pachhad reserved seatThe counting of votes for the 68member assembly began at 8 am For the Congress a victory in Himachal Pradesh was needed for a revival as it has been battered by a spate of electoral losses in the last few yearsAICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla says party was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the governmentAICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla said the party was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the government in the state and asserted that it will do everything to fulfil the 10 guarantees made to the people of the state and would provide better governance to peopleShukla said Priyanka Gandhi took the reins of the campaign in her hands and lauded her contribution He also thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge former chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and general secretary organisation K C Venugopal for their cooperation in poll preparationsHe said Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra had also had an indirect impact on the elections and among the peopleWhile Shukla is AICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was appointed senior observer for the pollsHimachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh the wife of late Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh hailed the partys win in the assembly elections saying the party MLAs will sit and decide on the chief ministerial pickPratibha Singh is considered a key frontrunner for the chief ministers post closely followed by former party chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing CLP leader Mukesh AgnihotriThe main opposition party had raised issues of price rise unemployment and the old pension scheme among othersThe BJPs campaign in Himachal saw a special focus on women and youth with the party rolling out a standalone manifesto for women for the first time in the states historyWith inputs from PTI