Shimla, Dec 8 (UNI) Jolting the BJP, the Congress wrested India's tiny northern hill state of Himachal Pradesh after a gap of five years on Thursday.
With the results of all 68 Assembly constituencies declared, the Congress won a clear majority, bagging 40 seats, almost double the tally of 21 it won in 2017. The BJP finished with 25 seats, 19 short of its numbers in the previous polls.
Besides, three Independents, all BJP rebels, were declared winners.
The Aam Admi Party, which carried out a vigorous campaign, was not able to open its account in the state, which went to the hustings in a single phase on November 12.
The Congress retained its old bastion Shimla and Solan districts, while simultaneously performing well in Hamirpur, Kangra and Bilaspur districts. It also came up with a good show in the apple-growing areas including Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts
Chief Minister and BJP stalwart Jai Ram Thakur won by a huge margin of over 38283 votes from the Seraj constituency in Mandi district. But eight of his cabinet ministers - Suresh Bhardwaj, Virender Kanwar, Ram Lal Markanda, Govind Thakur, Rajeev Shaijal, Rajinder Garg, Sarveen Chaudhary and Rakesh Pathania - bit the dust.
Jai Ram Thakur, who tendered his resignation once it became clear that the BJP would lose the election, later said that his party accepted the people's mandate.
“We will stand for the development of the state irrespective of politics. We will also analyse our shortcomings and improve during the next term,” said the outgoing CM.
Among prominent BJP winners are former state party president leader Satpal Singh Sati, Assembly Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar. (Sulah in Kangra district) and Deputy Speaker Hans Raj (Churah in Chamba district),
Former state Congress President Sukhvinder Singh Sukh won from Nadaun assembly seat of Hamirpur district. Among other frontline Congress leaders, former Chief Minister
Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh and Mukesh Agnihotri emerged triumphant. However, their party colleagues Kaul Singh Thakur, Prakesh Chaudhary, Ram Lal
Thakur, Asha Kumari and Chander Kumar were defeated..
Observers feel. infighting cost the BJP hard. The saffron party was pushed to the third position in its erstwhile bastions Hamirpur and Dehra, where rebels contesting as independents won the races.
Party rebel Ashish Sharma was declared elected from Hamirpur, where sitting MLA Bhupender Thakur took the third slot. Similar were the fates of BJP's official candidates Lakhvinder Rana in Nalagarh and former minister Ramesh Dhawala in Dehra assembly seats.
The BJP retained the Sundernagar seat when its candidate Rakesh Kumar got the better of Sohan Lal of the Indian National Congress by more than 8,000 votes. The Congress won seven of the eight seats in the Shimla district. The BJP managed to retain only Chopal in the district.
In the Solan district, Congress bagged four out of the five seats, with Solan, Arki, Doon and Kasauli going to its kitty.
In Sirmaur distinct, BJP candidates took the pole position in Pachhad and Poant Sahib seats.
CPI(M) MLA Rakesh Singh finished third in Theog from where former state Congress chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore was declared elected. UNI ML SSP