Himachal Pradesh: Assembly elections
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Political parties, principal
1967 - 2022
Anand Bodh, Dec 9, 2022: The Times of India
From: Anand Bodh, Dec 9, 2022: The Times of India
See graphic:
First party and second party, Himachal Pradesh elections, 1967- 2022
Result
2022
Anand Bodh, Dec 9, 2022: The Times of India
From: Anand Bodh, Dec 9, 2022: The Times of India
Cong gains from 5-yr switch, BJP weighed down by faction fights
Shimla : By noon, the picture was clear. Congress was headed for a majority and BJP’s dreams of creating history by retaining office for a second term in Himachal Pradesh lay crushed under the weight of its unfulfilled promises. Congress won 40 of the 68 seats, and voters kept up their ‘riwaaz’ of a five-year switch for every government. The BJP’s hardsell of ‘double engine sarkar’ failed to make any impact as issues like the old pension scheme, anger of apple growers and BJP’s decision not to honour its pre-poll promise of quadrupling the compensation for people whose land was acquired for widening of highways weighed it down. The saffron camp was whittled to 25 seats. BJP had thrown its weight behind the Himachal battle. BJP national president J P Nadda led from the front since it’s his home state. Central ministers and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states campaigned extensively. After the exit polls, BJP was confident of forming the government but the scoreline came as a shock. Nine of the 12 cabinet ministers lost, despite CM Jairam Thakur winning Seraj bya record margin of 38,183 votes. BJP’s road to victory was blocked by its rebels and a faction opposed to the CM. BJP was banking on the popularity of central schemes, charisma of PM Narendra Modi and welfareschemes launched by CM Thakur, but it fell short. On the other hand, not projecting a CM face worked for Congress as it won despite top leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not campaigning this time. The Congresscontested the election in the name of former CM late Virbhadra Singh and his emotional connect with people. Counting of votes started at 8am and by noon it became clear that Congress was going to win. CM Thakur, who was in Shimla then, called a press meet to thank the people and said the party has lost many seats by very thin margins. BJP will review the party’s defeat, he said, and submitted his resignation to the Governor. PCC chief Pratibha Singh said that people of state had answered BJP for poor governance of the last five years, lack of development and unkept promises of the 2017 election. “People were fed up with scams during Covid period. During the pandemic, the BJP government failed to provide relief to people. People have brought Congress back to office as they have voted in the name of late Virbhadra Singh and the work done by him for the state,” she said. Pratibha said Congress is not shifting its MLAs anywhere and there is no fear of horse-trading as the party has won 40 seats. No one is going to defect, she said. Congress has decided to hold the meeting of its MLAs in Shimla where the CM will be decided.
Voter turnout
1951-2017
From November 10, 2017: The Times of India
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Voter turnout in assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, 1951-2017
2003, 2007, 2012, 2017: performance of BJP and Congress
From: Anand Bodh, BJP Wins War, But Loses Generals In HP, December 19, 2017: The Times of India
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The performance of the BJP and Congress in the elections of 2003, 2007, 2012, 2017
2017
Anand Bodh, BJP Wins War, But Loses Generals In HP, December 19, 2017: The Times of India
From: December 19, 2017: The Times of India
See graphic:
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections of 2017: some numbers
Debate Over Why Dhumal Was Asked To Change Seat
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh on Monday threw up the most unexpected result. Voters gave BJP a huge victory, but rejected the saffron party’s entire top leadership, including the chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal.
Riding a wave of anti-incumbency against Congress, BJP won 44 of the 68 seats in the assembly and even increased its vote share substantially, from 38.7% in 2012 to 48.7% in 2017, making the loss of its top leaders even more shocking.
Congress mustered only 21seats, even as its vote share fell from 42.8% in 2012 to 41.8% this time.
But at the end of the day, there was no one in BJP who could automatically become CM, with Dhumal and a slew of other senior leaders losing their seats. Among the top BJP leaders who lost are state party chief Satpal Singh Satti from Una, former minister Ravinder Singh Ravi from Dehra, former minister Gulab Singh Thakur (father-inlaw of Hamirpur BJP MP Anurag Thakur) from Jogindernagar, Indu Goswami from Palampur and Randhir Sharma from Naina Devi.
Many of these would have been in reckoning for a cabinet berth in the new government had they won.
After a meeting of its parliamentary board, BJP announced that Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union minister for rural development Narendra Tomar would visit the state and talk to leaders before a CM is announced.
There is already a debate within BJP on why Dhumal was asked to change his seat from Hamirpur to Sujanpur if he was the chief ministerial face. Many felt he should have been kept in his comfort zone and allowed to take over the leadership of the state.
Accepting defeat, Dhumal said, “I blame no one. These things keep happening in politics. I am truly pleased BJP has come back to power in Himachal.”
Outgoing CM Virbhadra Singh, who won his seat of Arki, said he would keep working for Congress.
“We did not have the necessary resources to meet this tough challenge,” he said after the defeat.
In Palampur, BJP candidate Indu Goswami’s defeat left many surprised as PM Narendra Modi had held a rally there. When the BJP high command decided to field Goswami from Palampur, the same was opposed by former MLA Praveen Sharma, a loyalist of senior partyman Shanta Kumar.
In Congress too, many senior leaders lost. Veteran leader and health minister Kaul Singh Thakur lost from Darang in Mandi, while his daughter Champa Thakur, contesting for the first time from Mandi, lost to BJP’s Anil Sharma, son of former Union minister Sukh Ram.
Excise minister Prakash Chaudhary lost the election from Balh seat of Mandi, forest minister Thakur Singh Bharmauri lost from Bharmaur seat of Chamba district, urban development minister Sudhir Sharma lost from Dharamshala and transport minister G S Bali lost from Nagrota seat.
