Live: Himachal Pradesh Election Results : BJP wins battle, Virbhadra Singh accepts defeat
BJP ahead in Himachal; Congress wins one seat
The BJP on Monday won the Himachal Pradesh elections comfortably defeating the Congress. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh accepted defeat at 4.30 pm.
Congress candidate Anirudh Singh won the Kasumpti seat by defeating BJP's Vijay Jyoti by a margin of 9,397 votes.
Congress veteran and six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh are leading from Arki and Shimla(Rural) respectively, according to early trends.Main rivals BJP and Congress contested all the 68 seats at stake. The hill state witnessed a record 75.28 per cent turnout.
The Congress and the BJP had 36 and 26 seats respectively in the outgoing House.
Himachal Pradesh has a tradition of change in government after every elections and going by the trend, this time it appears to be the turn of the BJP which is upbeat after the exit polls predicted a victory for the saffron party.
The BJP ousted the Congress in 1990 and the Congress avenged the defeat in 1993. The BJP formed the government with the help of Himachal Vikas Congress in 1998 and the Congress was back in power in 2003. The BJP made a comeback in 2007.
Latest Updates
Speaking to ANI, BJP leader and original CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal said, "Personal loss is not of much importance.The gain that victory has brought to state BJP is important. Thankful to people of the state for voting for BJP. In politics, sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses. I was not expecting to lose, I will do an analysis."
-
-
BJP wins 10; leading in 34 seats; Congress wins five and leading on 15: Latest EVM numbers
Results of 10 seats declared. So far, BJP has won 6 and Congress one.
BJP leading in 39 more and Congress in 16.
"In his opening innings he scored zero" says Goa CM Manohar Parrikar on Rahul Gandhi
Latest official EC trends: BJP at 43, Congress at 21, CPI-M at 1 and Independent-1
Congress wins Kasumpti seat in Himachal Pradesh with its candidate Anirudh Singh defeating BJP's Vijay Jyoti by a margin of 9,397 votes.
"I am sure in the end #Congress will be victorious and form government in the state," says Vikramaditya Singh, contesting from Shimla (Rural).
Independents are leading in two constituencies while the CPI(M) is ahead in one.
Congress veteran and six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh are leading from Arki and Shimla(Rural) respectively, according to early trends available for 60 of the 68 seats.
â–º The CPI(M) is ahead in one seat after nearly two hours of counting. Trends are available for 43 seats.
â–º Main rivals BJP and Congress have contested all 68 seats.
EC Offical trends
In Kangra district's Jaisinghpur #BJP candidate Ravi Dhiman is leading with 1200 votes
BJP leading in Manali constituency
BJP's CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal trailing by 540 votes from Sujanpur
Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya leading by 1316 votes in Shimla Rural
According to early reports, Bhartiya Janata Party's Ravi Dhiman, Pratyashi Indra, Balveer Choudhary, Anil Sharma and Satpal Satti are leading. While Congress' candidate Dhaniram Shandil is leading from Solan constituency.
EC Official trends for Himachal Pradesh: BJP leading on 11 seats, Congress leading on 4, others 1
- TRENDSBJP - 33Congress - 10Others - 1
BJP ahead in 9 seats, Congress leading in four seats
"I assure you that there can be no tampering with the EVMs" says Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AK Joti
BJP leading in six seats, Congress in four
Counting of votes begins for Himachal Pradesh.
While the BJP is confident of winning the polls with a comfortable majority, the Congress has rejected the exit-polls and claimed that it was all set to repeat.
Sitting Rajya Sabha member Viplov Thakur(Congress), former Lok Sabha members, Chander Kumar(Congress and Dr Rajan Shushant (Independent) and former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar(BJP) are also among key contestants.
The hill state witnessed a record 75.28 % turnout and pollsters have predicted a BJP victory.
Corruption was the main focus of the BJP campaign with the party training its guns at Chief Minister Singh, while the Congress hit out at the BJP over the issue of GST and demonetization.
Out of 67 sitting MLAs, 60 MLAS, nine cabinet ministers, HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Sukkhu, state BJP chief, Satpal Singh Satti, Deputy Speaker, Jagat Singh Negi and eight Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) contested the poll along with a dozen former ministers.