Congress leads in Himachal Pradesh
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the opposition Congress has taken a lead on 39 seats while the ruling BJP has won one seat and is ahead on 25. Issues raised by the Congress such as those pertaining to women, Old Pension Scheme and unemployment seem to have struck a chord with the voters.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the opposition Congress has taken a lead on 39 seats while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won one seat and is ahead on 25.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has won the Mandi seat by a margin of 24,300 votes, polling 76.97 per cent of the votes.
Independent candidates are ahead on three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is yet to open its account.
Of the 55 lakh voters in the state, over 75 per cent voted in the November 12 election. A total of 412 candidates were in the fray in this election.
In seven out of eight constituencies of the Shimla district, the Congress is in the lead.
Issues raised by the Congress such as those pertaining to women, Old Pension Scheme and unemployment seem to have struck a chord with the voters.
Interestingly, however, the BJP is marginally ahead in vote share with 43.39 per cent of the votes in the state in comparison to Congress’ 43.31 per cent. AAP is a distant third with 1.08 per cent.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won 44 seats and the Congress 21, with one seat going to CPI-M, and two to independent candidates.
If Congress wins the state this time, as the leads show, it will be in keeping with the three-decade-old tradition of voting out the incumbent government in the state.
It will also be a boost for the revival of the grand old party, which now holds power only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, both of which will go to polls in 2023.
However, the game may not be over in the state even after the Congress has won, the party fears. It has asked all its MLAs to report to Chandigarh in a bid to avoid the possibility of poaching by the BJP.
