The BJP, which swept the Lok Sabha polls Himachal Pradesh winning all the four parliamentary seats in the state, secured maximum lead in the Assembly segments represented by the Congress MLAs, including Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and seven of his 11 Cabinet colleagues.
Among the ministers, only Mukesh Agnihotri, Jagat Singh Negi, and Rohit Thakur could secure lead for the Congress candidates in their respective Assembly segments of Haroli, Kinnaur, and Jubbal-Kotkhai.
The only saving grace for the Congress in the Parliamentary polls was that it registered a sharp rise in its vote share — from 23.53 per cent in 2019 to 41.67 per cent this time — even as BJP got a vote share of 56.44 per cent, down from 69.71 percent in last Lok Sabha elections.
For the ruling party, a rude jolt came in the form of BJP securing leads in 16 of the 17 Assembly segments that form part of the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and BJP candidate Anurag Thakur won the Hamirpur seat for the fifth consecutive term, defeating Congress’ Satpal Raizada, a former MLA from Una, by a margin of 1.82 lakh votes.
Of the 17 Assembly segments in Mandi, Raizada secured a lead (of 1,535 votes) only in Haroli, represented by Deputy CM Agnihotri. On the other hand, Thakur secured a lead of 2,143 in CM Sukhu’s constituency Nadaun.
In Nadaun, Thakur received 35,373 votes compared to Raizada’s 33,230. Similarly, in Bhoranj, represented by Congress MLA Suresh Kumar, Thakur secured a lead of 15,260 votes — polling 35,830 votes against Raizada’s 20,570.
In Ghumarwin, represented by Town and Country Planning Minister Rajesh Dharmani, Thakur secured a lead of 13,753 votes.
The Congress, which won four of the six assembly seats that went to bypolls, led in only seven out of 68 assembly segments. The party had come to power in December 2022 winning 40 seats.
In Shimla parliamentary constituency, where Congress represents 13 of the 17 Assembly segments — including five by ministers and one by a chief parliamentary secretary — BJP candidate Suresh Kashyap made big inroads. Among others, he secured lead of 4,485 votes in Sri Renukaji Assembly segment, represented by Congress’ Vinay Kumar. In Kasumpti (Cabinet minister Anirudh Singh), Kashyap got a lead of 5,873 votes. Kashyap also secured a lead of 6,448 votes in the Shimla (Rural) Assembly segment, represented by PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh. Vikramaditya was also Congress candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha from where BJP’s Kangana Ranaut emerged winner. Kashyap, who won against Congress’ Vinod Sultanpuri — the sitting MLA from the Kasauli (SC) Assembly constituency — also got a lead of 2,317 votes in the Shillai Assembly segment of Industry Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan.
Sultanpuri, however, had secured leads in Rohru Assembly segment, represented by chief parliamentary secretaries Mohan Brakta, Jubbal-Kotkhai represented by Education Minister Rohit Thakur, and Rohru.
In Kangra parliamentary constituency, where Congress represents 11 of the 17 Assembly segments, party candidate Anand Sharma lost to BJP’s Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj. It was the first ever Lok Sabha elections for both the candidates.
State BJP chief Rajiv Bindal on Tuesday had termed party’s victory in all four Lok Sabha seats for the second time in a row as “people’s mandate” and had targeted CM Sukhu for Congress’ “major defeat”. He said Sukhu had so far “failed to deliver” in his 18-month tenure as the CM and should resign on moral grounds.
He also accused the Congress of “using money, threatening employees and registering false cases against BJP candidates”.
Sukhu, on the other hand, said that parliamentary elections are fought on national issues while Assembly elections are contested on local issues. “We will review the reasons behind our defeat,” he said.