Himachal Bypoll Outcomes: Counting for all 4 seats started this morning (File)
New Delhi:
The Congress has accomplished a shocking clear sweep of bypolls in BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh, winning three Assembly constituencies and the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and leaving Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur with little possibility however to take accountability for the chastening defeats.
The Congress’ emphatic win comes months earlier than the state votes for a brand new authorities and will increase stress on Chief Minister Thakur, who may now be wanting over his shoulder given the BJP’s readiness to change chief ministers in party-ruled states, notably when polls are due.
The get together has already changed Vijay Rupani as Gujarat Chief Minister, BS Yedyiurappa as Karnataka Chief Minister and twice modified the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.
Mr Thakur has instructed reporters: “I take accountability since I used to be main the marketing campaign.”
The Chief Minister and Union Minister Anurag Thakur had been among the many massive names on the marketing campaign path forward of Meeting bypolls in Arki, Fatehpur and Jubbal-Kotkhai, and the Mandi Lok Sabha seat.
Jubbal-Kotkhai has been received by the Congress’ Rohit Thakur.
The BJP candidate for that seat – Neelam Seraik – secured lower than 2,600 votes and is prone to lose her deposit. An unbiased candidate, Chetan Singh Bragta, completed second, 6,293 votes behind, in line with information from the Election Fee’s outcomes web site.
The bypoll for this seat (referred to as the ‘apple heartland of Himachal Pradesh’) was necessitated as a result of sitting BJP MLA Narinder Bragta died in June.
In Fatehpur (a Congress stronghold for over a decade) Bhawani Singh Pathiani has retained the seat left empty after the demise of his father – MLA and former minister Sujan Singh Pathania – in January.
The BJP’s Baldev Thakur completed second – 5,789 votes behind.
And in Arki, the Congress’ Sanjay Awasthy beat the BJP’s Rattan Singh Pal by 3,219 votes. The bypoll right here was due to the demise of six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who died in July.
In Mandi, after a closely-fought battle, the Congress’ Pratibha Singh has claimed victory over the BJP candidate – Kargil struggle hero Brigadier (retd) Khushal Chand Thakur.
Mrs Singh, the spouse of the late, six-time former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, secured over 3.65 lakh votes, in line with the Election Fee.
The bypoll right here was held as a result of sitting MP Ram Swaroop Sharma of the BJP died in March.
Crucially, Mandi is Chief Minister Thakur’s house district.
The Congress had misplaced this seat by over 4 lakh votes in 2019.
Final week bypolls had been held for 3 Lok Sabha seats (the opposite two are in Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and 29 Meeting constituencies.