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BJP wins 3 seats against Cong tide
Dhumal: People voted for development
BJP retains hold on Hamirpur
Our policies made us win: Anurag
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QUOTES During his 15-month rule in the state, PK Dhumal used government machinery to garner political gains, intimidated village pradhans and used all might to ensure my defeat, but without success.”
— Virbhadra Singh, Cong candidate It was only the victory of Virbhadra Singh as the Congress has lost as a whole not only in Mandi but in the entire state. We had expected more leads in
Kullu,” — Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief
History repeats itself in Kangra
Virbhadra: Cong’s lone battle winner
Shimla
BJP breaches impregnable Shimla fortress
BJP upsets Congress applecart
Political rumblings within Cong rife with blame game
Question mark over BJP show in dist
36 hurt in mishap
Maha yajna held
Man gets 7-year jail
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BJP wins 3 seats against Cong tide
Shimla, May 16 Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh managed to scrape through from the Mandi constituency, earlier held by his wife Pratibha Singh, by defeating Maheshwar Singh of the BJP with a narrow margin of 13,997 votes even as the BJP created history by winning the Shimla seat for the first time. Anurag Thakur, cricketer son of Chief Minister PK Dhumal, retained the Hamirpur seat defeating Congress candidate Narinder Thakur with a handsome, but drastically reduced, margin. Former BJP minister Rajan Sushant defeated sitting Congress MP Chander Kumar by 20,779 votes to wrest the Kangra seat. However, the major achievement for the BJP in these elections was its victory in Shimla where its candidate, Virender Kashyap, vanquished sitting Congress MP DR Shandil by 27,327 votes. It is the maiden victory of the BJP from the seat and it secured 50.25 per cent votes, crossing the half-way mark for the first time. It was a personal triumph of Virbhadra Singh in Mandi. He battled it out virtually single-handedly against the BJP and also survived undercutting from his detractors within the Congress. His support at the grassroots and campaigning skills came in handy and he came out with flying colours in the constituency in which the Congress had legislators only in four out of total 17 assembly segments. The absence of Virbhadra Singh from campaign in other seats, particularly in Shimla and Kangra, exposed the organisational weakness of the party. In fact, the Congress failed to secure significant lead from the district in any segment, except Rohru, the seat of Virbhadra Singh. As against the victory margin of 1,74, 666 votes of the 2008 byelection, Anurag won from Hamirpur by 72,732 votes. The decline was, however, expected, although the BJP poll managers were hopeful of maintaining a gap in excess of 1 lakh votes. The effort put in by Chief Minister PK Dhumal in the final phase of electioneering proved decisive. Significantly, Anurag polled almost the same number of votes, whereas the Congress secured over 1.1 lakh votes more than the tally in 2008. The BJP’s vote share declined from 63.94 to 53.56 per cent, while that of the Congress improved from 34.1 to 43.13 per cent. |
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Dhumal: People voted for development
Shimla, May 16 This is how Chief Minister PK Dhumal summed up the results of the Lok Sabha election in the state as the saffron flag flew high winning three of the four seats. Despite major setback to his party at the national-level, he feels the state electorate has voted for development and the pro-people decisions taken by his regime. “The historic win of the BJP in Shimla seat has clearly shown that people of the state voted for development no matter what the national trend is,” he opines. Notwithstanding the reduced winning margins of the candidates, including victory of his son Anurag Thakur and BJP candidate from Hamirpur by over 72,000 votes, he says in the present political scenario even this margin was creditable. While hoping that a stable UPA regime would fulfil the promises it made to the people, he rules out the possibility of discrimination with the hill state. “Himachal is a part of India and we should get what is rightfully ours,” he emphasises. However, he reiterates his allegation of discrimination with Himachal in the past with regard to reduction in the 18,000 metric tonnes rice quota and no flood relief money being given against a request of Rs 2,000 crore. He says a positive development in this election has been the resurgence of the national parties and reduced role of regional parties. “National interest has to be supreme, but at times due to regional issues assuming importance, compromises have to be made,” he says. He says the public mandate is in favour of the UPA, which he hoped would provide a stable government and honour the commitments it made to the people. |
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BJP retains hold on Hamirpur
Hamirpur, May 16 Anurag Thakur secured 3,73,598 votes, while Narinder Thakur got 3,00,866 votes. Among the other contestants in the fray, only BSP candidate Mangat Ram Sharma could cross the 10,000-mark. He got 11,774 votes. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur won the seat for the second time in a row. Anurag, who had secured lead in all 17 assembly segments during the last byelection, managed to maintain his grip on 15 assembly segments. The highest lead of 14,864 votes for the BJP candidate came from the Dharampur assembly segment, which has been recently included in the Hamirpur constituency from Mandi district following delimitation. The lowest margin of 1,554 votes was recorded in the Nadaun assembly segment. Assembly segment-wise votes polled by both candidates are: Dehra (BJP 20,331, Cong 15,113), Jaswan (BJP 22,570, Cong 13,926), Dharampur (BJP 25,626, Cong 10,762), Bhoranj (BJP 24,822, Cong 15,922), Sujanpur (BJP 20,261, Cong 17,920), Hamirpur (BJP 21,580, Cong 18,216), Badsar (BJP 23,443, Cong 18,852), Nadaun (BJP 24,194, Cong 19,930), Chintpurni (BJP 20,626, Cong 19,072), Gagret (BJP 19,049, Cong 20,151), Haroli (BJP 21,049, Cong 22,586), Una (BJP 25,144, Cong 17,316), Kutlehar (BJP 24,414, Cong 18,799), Jhanduta (BJP 20,045, Cong 17,764), Ghumarwin (BJP 19,199, Cong 20,400), Bilaspur (BJP 20,085, Cong 17,741) and Naina Devi (BJP 20,343, Cong 15,953). |
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Our policies made us win: Anurag
Hamirpur, May 16 He said, “When the UPA is heading for an impressive victory in the country it is merely because of policies of the state government and untiring work of BJP workers that we have been able to win here.” Thanking the people and party workers for this victory, Thakur said, “My priorities include extension of railway line in the state, creating sports facilities, improving education standards, creating employment opportunities for youths and increasing income of farmers.” Replying to a question that how as an opposition MP he would carry forward the development schemes in the state with the UPA in power at the Centre? He said, “It is not a question of being in the power or in opposition, what matters is how well you put forth the interests of the state before the Central government.” |
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History repeats itself in Kangra
Dharamsala, May 16 In the results declared today Rajan Sushant of the BJP defeated his nearest rival Chander Kumar of the Congress and the sitting MP by a margin of 20779 votes. Rajan Sushant who was BJP MLA from Fatehpur assembly constituency while a addressing press conference later in the evening attributed his win to development carried out by the BJP government in the past one-year’s rule in the state. He also assured to take up the issue of Kangra parliamentary constituency in Parliament. The constituency is spread across 17 assembly constituencies in Kangra and Chamba district. While the Congress managed to take lead in six assembly segments, the BJP The Congress took lead of 3026 votes in Chamba assembly segment, 3091 votes in Jawali, 4335 votes in Kangra assembly segment that is represented by BSP MLA Sanjay Chaudhary who has now joined the BJP, 324 votes in Dharamsala that is represented by BJP minister Kishan Kapoor and 932 in Palampur that is also represented by BJP MLA Parveen Sharma. Interestingly, the Congress candidate got maximum lead of 5561 votes from the Nagrota Bagwan area that is represented by Congress MLA GS Bali who was referred to as black sheep by none other than the HPCC president Kaul Singh. The BJP got lead of 2054 votes from Churrah assembly segment, 4406 votes from Dalhousie, 5917 votes from Bhattiyat, 2308 votes from Nurpur, 6778 votes from Indora, 5750 votes from Fatehpur, 6256 votes from Jawalamukhi, 1906 votes from Jai Singhpur, 2508 votes from Sullah, 919 votes from Shahpur and 174 votes from Baijnath that is represented by Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma. The BSP failed to make any impression. Its candidate Narinder Singh Pathania lost his deposit securing just 12745 votes. LJP candidate Keshav Chauhan also lost his deposit securing just 7720 votes. The candidates of other smaller parties, including Joginder Singh of the Shiv Sena and Nirmala Sharma of the Rashtravadi Sena, also lost their deposits. The BJP workers celebrated the win in Kangra by taking out a procession through the town. However, the loss of party at national level damped the spirits of BJP workers.
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Virbhadra: Cong’s lone battle winner
Mandi, May 16 CPM-CPI’s Onkar Shad got 20,937 votes, BSP’s Lala Ram 10,194, Hukam Chand Shashtri 7,947 and Shan Mohamad got 6,659 votes. He said, “This is a historic victory of the people of 17 segments of the Mandi parliamentary constituency. It is for the first time that an MP has won Mandi against the ruling party.” “During his 15-month rule in the state, PK Dhumal used government machinery to garner political gains, intimidated village pradhans and used all might to ensure my defeat, but without success,” he said. He was accompanied by his wife and sitting MP Pratibha Singh, his son Vikramaditya, his daughter, state president of the party Kaul Singh Thakur, Mandi (Sadar) MLA Anil Sharma, and other Congress leaders. Kaul Singh Thakur claimed Virbhadra Singh would be a minister in the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre. Virbhadra retained Rampur by 15472 votes. He wrested five seats from the BJP. These were: Kinnaur by a margin of 2,758 votes, Bharmour (199 votes), Karsog (3,438 votes), Ani (6,334 votes) and Nachen (2551 votes). The Congress also retained Sukh Ram’s stronghold Mandi (Sadar) by 5,719 votes, Drang (4,320 votes). The party, however, lost Balh by 920 votes. The BJP won in the Jogindernagar assembly segment by 7,321 votes, Sundernagar by 356 votes, Sarkaghat by 2,430 votes, Seraj by 4,739 votes, Kullu by 2,138 votes, Manali by 3,698 votes, Banjar by 3,462 votes and Lahaul-Spiti by 1,284 votes. Maheshwar Singh said the contest in Mandi helped the BJP register win in three other constituencies. “We kept Virbhadra confined to Mandi and he did not campaign much outside Mandi,” he said. |
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Shimla
Shimla, May 16 As there is cause for celebration in the BJP for finally making a dent in Shimla parliamentary seat, which has always been a Congress bastion, for Kashyap it is the proverbial saying ‘try try till you succeed’ coming true. “The positive work undertaken by the BJP regime in the state under the leadership of P.K. Dhumal and my own hard work for the past 30 years has ensured a historic win,” said an elated Kashyap who won with a margin of over 28,000 votes. Being termed as a weak candidate by a section of the BJP leadership who, time and again, quipped whether ‘Pappu’ will finally pass, his supporters distributed chocolates raising slogans ‘Pappu pass ho gaya’ as they celebrated the victory. The fact that the BJP has won the Shimla seat for the first time makes the workers even more jubilant. He admits that the biggest factor in his favour was that the BJP was in power and one cannot ignore the fact that the electorate of Himachal are known for voting in favour of the ruling party in the state. “It is for the first time that I got the chance to contest when the BJP was in power in Himachal and the party workers put in their might to ensure my victory,” he says. Kashyap who resigned as a lecturer in 1979 is candid enough to admit that he was able to break the jinx of defeat as sympathy factor too worked in his favour. “People of Himachal have proved that contrary to national trend they vote for development which they felt was in the hands of chief minister Dhumal,” he says. Having started his political career by contesting the Lok Sabha election from the Shimla seat on the Janata Party ticket in 1979, it is after biting the dust in 10 elections that he won the election for the first time. He defeated Dhani Ram Shandil of the Congress who had won the last two elections.
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BJP breaches impregnable Shimla fortress
Shimla, May 16 With the highest-ever tally of eight BJP MLAs and backing of one independent legislator from the Shimla Lok Sabha seat comprising Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts, the ruling party had everything going in its favour. The absence of Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh owing to his own election in Mandi and lack of the party leadership to launch a united and forceful campaign made the going tough for the Congress. He was able to devote only a day for campaigning in Shimla and Sirmaur. Even though the victory margin of party nominee Virender Kashyap over his Congress rival Dhani Ram Shandil is 27, 327 but the very fact that the BJP could sway voters in its favour is creditable. Shandil had in the 2004 Lok Sabha election defeated H.N. Kashyap of the BJP by 1.08 lakh votes. With both Virbhadra Singh and HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur being confined to Mandi, it was left to CLP leader Vidya Stokes to campaign for Shandil. The non-performance and inaccessibility of Shandil cost the party heavily as the two-time MP came in for severe criticism for remaining aloof from the public. With its worst-ever performance the Congress managed lead only in three of the 17 assembly segments. In Rohru, represented by Virbhadra the Congress got a lead of 10,064 votes, 700 votes’ lead from Shimla and 265 from Shimla (rural). The BJP managed an overall lead of 12,290 from Solan district while the Congress managed a lead of 5,200 votes from Shimla district. It was the massive and unexpected lead of 20,233 from Sirmaur which has four of the five sitting MLAs from the Congress, which played the major role in the historic BJP win. Retaining lost ground will be an uphill task for the Congress whose strongholds have been eroded in its fortress of Shimla with the BJP registering its first-ever win. |
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BJP upsets Congress applecart
Shimla, May 16 The BJP was expected to win from Hamirpur and the Congress from Mandi, but indifferent campaigning and infighting undid the latter in Shimla and Kangra. While party in power was the single dominant factor that enabled the BJP to turn the tables on the Congress, it was its aggressive campaigning that proved decisive. The massive resources in shape of men, material and star campaigners, deployed by the party paid dividends and it wrested two seats from the Congress, retaining the Hamirpur seat. The Congress seemed starved of funds and it was visible during its poll campaign. Among the national leaders of the Congress, only Sonia Gandhi addressed a solitary rally at Shimla, while Rahul Gandhi held rallies at Una, Kullu and Rehan (Kangra). Minister for external affairs Anand Sharma, who hails from the state, did campaign extensively. But the BJP brought an array of leaders, including LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Narinder Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Pratap Singh and Arun Jaitley to lend a cutting edge to its campaign. With its lacklustre campaigning, the Congress miserably failed to cash in on the “achievements” of the UPA government. As a result, the poll debate veered away from national issues, much to its disadvantage. The focus shifted to local issues and the BJP could rightfully claim it to be a positive vote for the performance of the Dhumal government, though it failed to convince the electorate on its main poll plank of discrimination by the Centre against the state. The decision to raise old-age pension and the daily wages did help the party muster support of weaker sections. While the Congress strategy to field Virbhadra Singh from Mandi helped it win the seat, it affected the party’s electoral prospects in other constituencies, particularly Shimla. In Virbhadra’s absence, leader of the opposition Vidya Stokes woefully failed to take charge of the campaign even in her home district of Shimla. The party also performed poorly in Sirmaur district, another stronghold of the Congress. After this win, Chief Minister PK Dhumal will have to work even harder to live up to the expectations of the people and with a non-BJP government at the Centre, it will not be an easy task. |
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Political rumblings within Cong rife with blame game
Mandi, May 16 With Virbhadra Singh emerging a new leader after his victory from
Mandi, the political rumblings have gained ground finding scapegoat for the Congress debacle in Kangra
and Shimla from where it was hopeful of winning. The poor showing in Shimla and Kangra by the Congress has exposed the fact that Congress leader Virbhadra Singh did not get the chopper at the right time for campaign. The campaign virtually was left to the leaders who have
no vote-catching capacity, revealed insiders. On the other hand, Virbhadra Singh could not campaign in Shimla and Kangra as he had to concentrate in Mandi where he faced a strong anti-incumbency factor in the guise of his wife, Pratibha Singh, played up the BJP and arduous task of fighting 13 BJP MLAs and BJP government, which infused its full strength to topple Virbhadra Singh, said insiders here. However, even rallies addressed by national leaders could not bring change in the mood of voters by
and large, said BJP and Congress workers. They cited: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi addressed a big rally in Kullu on May 11, but the BJP won three seats, while Congress led in Ani far away from the venue. He addressed two big rallies in Kangra where the party lost the seat. On the other hand Narendra Modi addressed three big rallies in
Mandi, Hamirpur and Kullu, but the margins of victory of BJP’s Anurag Thakur hit a new low at 73,000 votes, BJP trailed by 800 votes in Mandi and almost got a marginal lead in Kullu district, they
added. Kaul Singh said the main reason of the Congress debacle was that the BJP misused government machineries and our campaigns suffered in Shimla and Kangra as the BJP provided helicopter to the Congress for just three days. |
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Question mark over BJP show in dist
Solan, May 16 Other candidates, including Somnath, Gurnam Singh and Brijlal representing the BSP, SP and Shiv Sena, have managed to procure 2,780, 618 and 526 votes, respectively. Kashyap managed to poll the highest number of 8,394 votes from the Nalagarh constituency while his lead from the adjoining Doon constituency was only 392 votes in the district. The margin was equally poor in Kasauli where the BJP’s lead was mere 438 votes. The lead from the Arki and Solan constituencies was 1,552 and 1,514, respectively. The situation was worrisome in the Kasauli constituency, which was the home turf of Kashyap as it showed little inclination towards him. With all five assembly constituencies in the district being represented by the ruling BJP the party was hopeful of improving its initial tally of about 25,000 votes gained during the 2007 Vidhan Sabha poll. But with this margin slipping to nearly one half (12,290) has put a question mark over the BJP’s declining popularity. This was more so since the adjoining Sirmaur district, where the BJP had barely one MLA, had given a lead of as much as 20,233 votes. This was a major embarrassment for the BJP and the lone saving grace for the party in the district was Nalagarh where the local MLA HN Saini had managed to procure the highest margin of 8,394 votes in the district. |
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QUOTES
It is only the hills of Himachal which managed to stop the Congress wave sweeping entire North India, a clear indication of the fact that people have upheld the development work undertaken by the BJP regime in the state. —
PK Dhumal, CM
During his 15-month rule in the state, PK Dhumal used government machinery to garner political gains, intimidated village pradhans and used all might to ensure my defeat, but without success.”
— Virbhadra Singh, Cong candidate It was only the victory of Virbhadra Singh as the Congress has lost as a whole not only in Mandi but in the entire state. We had expected more leads in
Kullu,” — Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief
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36 hurt in mishap
Bilaspur, May 16 Reports said two seriously injured passengers were rushed to the Regional Hospital here and are stated to be out of danger while other passengers with minor injuries were allowed to go on their forward journey after they were given first aid at the Ghumarwin Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving against drivers of both the buses and is investigating into the matter. Two seriously injured passengers were given Rs 2,000 each and other 18 passengers Rs 1,000 each and nine passengers Rs 500 each according to nature of their injuries as immediate financial aid on behalf of the government.
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Maha yajna held
Bilaspur, May 16 He appreciated dedication, devotion, hard work and commitment of the parivar for building a better, happy and healthy society through improvement in every individual. He said persistent efforts in this direction by founder of the parivar Acharya Shriram Sharma and Mata Bhagwati Sharma were unique and reminded us about sages, who gave their entire life selflessly for uplift and betterment of people. |
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Man gets 7-year jail
Dharamsala, May 16 Deputy District Attorney BR Marwah said Dev Raj (also a resident of the old Mator) used to run a cycle repair shop locally. On September 9, 2005, Dev Raj was going to his shop. Accused Shridhar, who also used to run a teashop nearby, attacked Dev Raj with a sharp-edged weapon. Injured Dev Raj was taken to the hospital by his wife where he gave his statement that he was attacked by Shridhar. The medical report also confirmed that the injuries inflicted on Dev Raj could have been fatal. The judge sentenced Shridhar to 7 years of imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine under Section 307 of the IPC. In case of default in payment of fine he would further have to go an imprisonment of 2 years. Under Section 323 of the IPC he was sentenced to three months of
imprisonment and under Section 341 of IPC one-month imprisonment. All the sentences would run concurrently. |
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The BJP retained its hold in the prestigious Hamirpur parliamentary constituency for the sixth consecutive term today. Its candidate Anurag Thakur defeated Narinder Thakur of the Congress by 72,732 votes.
