Shimla, December 21
A loss of 5.31 per cent in its vote share has cost the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 15 seats while the Congress has romped home with 13 more seats in its kitty with an increase of a mere 3.27 per cent compared to the 2007 elections.

The Congress got 42.81 per cent of the total votes polled this time compared to 39.54 per cent in the last Assembly elections in 2007. In the 68-member House, its tally went up from 23 in 2007 to 36 this time.

On the other hand, the BJP got a vote percentage of 38.47 compared to 43.78 in the last elections, reducing its legislators from 41 to 26. Significantly, it lost four seats to its rebels who won as Independents.

The performance of the Communist Party of India, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress, the Lok Jantantrik Party and the Shiv Sena was poor.

These parties had a mere token presence in the elections. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) did well in a handful of its traditional pockets, but could not manage a win.

The collective share of the two main political parties, which was 83.32 per cent in the last elections, declined marginally to 81.28 per cent this time.

The performance of the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) was far from impressive. Aiming to repeat the performance of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), floated by former Telecommunications Minister Sukh Ram, it could not replicate a power-deciding showing.

While the HVC had won five seats in 1998 and polled about nine per cent of the votes, the HLP managed to win only one seat and got barely 2.5 per cent of the total votes.

Compared to the HLP, the performance of Independent candidates was impressive, with five of them winning. The share of votes polled by 106 Independent candidates this time showed a slight increase over last time, when 60 of them were in the fray.

This time, about a dozen Independent candidates, mostly rebels from the Congress and BJP, did well by polling more than 10,000 votes. The 60 Independent candidates in the fray in 2007 had got a vote share of 14.2 per cent and had won three seats.

The BJP made inroads into the Congress bastion of Sirmaur and did reasonably well in Chamba. However, the drubbing it got in Kangra, where its tally dipped from nine to three, changed the entire picture and stalled its ‘Mission Repeat’.

Shimla, December 21
Could creation of new districts in Kangra proved to have been the magic wand for the BJP whose dismal performance in the biggest and politically significant district virtually sunk its ship?

Well this is the firm belief held by Chief Minister PK Dhumal.

“Had we gone ahead and trifurcated Kangra by carving out new districts, the BJP would have swept Kangra by winning at least 12 seats,” Dhumal said here today when asked if the issue would have helped his party whose tally touched 26.

He also remarked that the Congress would in all likelihood now create new districts in Kangra.

Dhumal along with his loyalists was keen to carve out three new districts of Nurpur, Dehra and Palampur, but owning to opposition by Shanta Kumar and his men, the move had to be dropped.

He admitted that the wrong distribution of the ticket and the infighting within the party, especially in Kangra district, dealt a severe blow to BJP’s chances of returning to power.

“Wrong choices, failure to present a united face, and the delay in issuing of the second list of 23 candidates is what sent wrong signals for the party in Kangra district,” he opined.

The BJP has won only three seats of Shahpur, Dehra and Jaswan-Pragpur in Kangra district that has a lion’s share of 15 constituencies.

Out of these, Dehra and Jaswan-Pragpur are part of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency and not the Kangra Lok Sabha segment.

Dhumal said it was at the meeting of all 68 candidates and BJP state office-bearers that reasons for defeat would be looked into.

“It is candidates who can best pin-point the reasons that proved to be the stumbling block in their march to victory,” he said. As such, the results from Kangra could spark off a blame game in the party as that is the opinion held by the majority.

The outgoing Chief Minister said another reason that also marred the party’s chances was the tussle that broke out within the party cadres on seeing the bright prospects of the BJP making “Mission Repeat” a success.

Dhumal also feels that subsidised ration and several welfare schemes like free school uniforms, free ambulance service, pensionary and financial benefits to employees virtually insulated people of the state from the price rise. He said he has tried to deliver maximum possible and tried to help out even those who did not approach him. “I am a people’s man and would always stay among them as I have done during my entire public life,” Dhumal added.

Dharamsala, December 21
Kangra district, the biggest and politically most significant one, has given the Congress victory. The party has won 10 of the 15 constituencies in the district.

The district has contributed significantly to the comfortable majority the Congress has secured given the fact that the party has performed badly in its traditional strongholds like Sirmaur and Chamba districts.

Kangra is traditionally considered a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion. It remains to be seen how much share in power the district gets in the new Congress government.

Despite Kangra and lower regions of the state playing a significant role in the formation of Congress governments, power had remained centred in Shimla district.

At present, both state Congress president Virbhadra Singh and Congress Legislature Party leader Vidya Stokes are from Shimla district. Kangra district has hardly any representation in the state Congress leadership.

Congress leaders from the district said Kangra, Hamirpur and Una districts had played a significant role in previous Congress governments, but did not get adequate share in power.

This time, the Congress has won 14 of the 25 seats in Kangra, Hamirpur and Una districts, that amounts to about 40 per cent of the total seats won by it.

The BJP, which had won nine seats in Kangra district in the last elections, had given four Cabinet berths to the district. These four ministers in the outgoing government are Ravinder Singh Ravi, Sarveen Chaudhary, Kishan Kapoor and Ramesh Dhawala.

This time, two senior Congress leaders from the district, Brij Behari Lal Butail and GS Bali, are sure to get important Cabinet berths in the Congress government. Sujjan Singh Pathania is another aspirant due to his seniority.

Many young Congress legislators, including Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala and Neeraj Bharti from Jawali, have also won. They are second-time legislators and may be given representation in the Cabinet if Rahul Gandhi’s formula to bring the youth forward is applied.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Congress leaders from the district said the BJP had strengthened its base in the lower areas as the Congress had ignored those. Certain Congress leaders claimed that the BJP had come to power in the state only on the basis of the alleged bias of the Congress leadership against lower areas.

If the Congress fails to give an adequate share in power to lower areas this time as well, it may lose its base in those. The cadre strength of the Congress in many constituencies in lower areas has already weakened to such an extent that the BJP has been winning those for the last few terms.

Mandi/Kullu, December 21
Apart from former Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur, who scraped through by a narrow margin of 2,232 votes from Darang, having staking claim for the Chief Minister’s post, there are four others from Mandi and Kullu who are eyeing some ministerial berth in the newly elected Congress government in the state.

However, Kaul Singh seemed unfazed by the criticism that he did not spare a day out of Drang constituency to campaign for his “supporters” and he was “dropped” by the high command as the state president at the eleventh hour to give command to “more competent Virbhadra Singh”.

He minced no words in saying that he is “in race for the top post as he is younger, holds various ministerial posts and was even a Vidhan Sabha speaker and won elections for the eighth time in a row”.

He said the Chief Minister candidate or Congress legislature party leader would be decided by MLAs and party president Sonia Gandhi would have the final word.

“We will go by the verdict of the party high command,” he added.

However, he took a dig at state Congress president and Mandi MP Virbhadra Singh, who managed party’s victory to power saying that Sonia Gandhi has expressed zero tolerance to corruption.

“It is the victory of workers and collective efforts of all leaders,” he said.

But irony with Kaul Singh is that “no Congress MLA from his home district has come forward to support him as senior Congress leader and former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram had pitched for Virbhadra in his bid to give some berth to his son, Anil Sharma, the second time MLA from Mandi Sadar.

The front runner from Kullu for the berth is Virbhadra’s supporter Karan Singh, who routed Forest Minister Khimi Ram by over 9,000 votes. He is the younger brother of HLP chief Maheshswar Singh, who won from Kullu Sadar.

Back in Mandi, Virbhadra’s supporters Parkash Chaudhary, the second time MLA from Balh, and Mansa Ram from Karsog, both part of Sukh Ram-led Himachal Vikas Congress, now defunct and merged with the Congress, are eyeing some berth in the ministry. Sundernagar MLA Sohan Lal Thakur, elected for the second time with a largest margin of 8,890 votes, is also eyeing for some berth.

Nahan, December 21
With the defeat of Congress senior leaders GR Musafir and Harshwardhan Chauhan, the vote share of the Congress has declined drastically in the district. However, the BJP has managed to show considerable improvement by grabbing three of the five seats.

In the most keenly contested Nahan seat, the BJP not only opened its account by registering its maiden victory through Rajiv Bindal but also improved its vote share from 32.74 per cent to 47.68 per cent, while Kush Parmar of the Congress suffered a steep decline from 32.74 per cent to 23.66 per cent.

The Renuka constituency voted for Congress candidate Vinay Kumar. The BJP could not hold on to its vote share of 53.12 per cent gained in the last year’s byelection and it declined to 46.64 per cent, thus paving the way for the return of the Congress.

The Congress improved its share from 44.12 per cent in the 2011 byelection to 48.12 per cent now.

In the Shillai constituency, BJP’s Baldev Tomar made a remarkable improvement in the BJP’s vote share from 8.39 per cent in 2009 to 49.33 per cent now, thus trouncing four-time MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan. Tomar had forfeited his security in 2009, while BJP’s rebel Amar Singh Chauhan had emerged second, mustering 38.93 votes.

The Paonta Sahib seat again proved to be a disappointment to the Congress, where its official nominee Onkar Singh finished a poor third by procuring only 11.42 votes against 38.95 gained by the party in 2009. The BJP, which had gained 46.69 per cent votes in 2009, could procure only 42.57 per cent votes now. Kirnesh Jung, who contested as an independent and won this seat, gained 44.04 per cent votes.

In Pacchad, six-time Congress MLA GR Musafir, too, suffered a drop in his vote share from 51.49 per cent in 2009 to 45.62 per cent now, while BJP’s Suresh Kashyap consolidated the party’s position from 46 per cent to 50.86 per cent and registered his first victory.

Dharamsala, December 21
The Third Front comprising the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) and Left parties, including the CPM, have failed to make any impact on the election results in the politically significant Kangra district.

As per the data available here, most of the Third Front candidates failed to save their deposits as they got less than 1,000 votes. The Third Front had fielded its candidates from 11 seats out of the 15 Assembly constituencies of Kangra.

Out of the 11 candidates, only three, who were BJP rebels, managed to garner certain votes.

Naveen Dhiman, a former BJP leader, contested as HLP candidate from the Jaswan Pragpur Assembly constituency. He got 6,982 votes, which is about 10 per cent of the total votes in the constituency.

However, he failed to make much impact on the results as the BJP candidate from the area Bikram Thakur won with a thumping majority of over 7,000 votes.

From Palampur, former BJP MLA Dulo Ram contested as the HLP candidate. However, he could muster just 6,115 votes. Dulo Ram might have dented the vote percentage of BJP candidate from the area Parveen Sharma but Congress candidate from the area Brij Behari Butail won by a thumping margin of over 9,000 votes. Udho Ram, another HLP candidate got 7,049 votes.

In the other eight constituencies, HLP and CPM candidates got less than 1,000 votes. Jagdish Chand, CPM candidate from Dharamsala, got 402 votes; Balbir Singh, HLP candidate from Shahpur, got 1,750 votes; Aman Guleria, CPM candidate from Kangra, got 636 votes; Charan Dass Chaudhary of the CPI from Sullah got 684 votes; HLP candidate from Jaisinghpur got 456 votes and from the HLP candidate from Jawali got 693 votes.

In the Dehra Assembly constituency, the performance of the HLP was most abysmal as the party candidate got just 234 votes.

Solan, December 21
The BJP suffered a steep decline in its voter percentage in Solan district despite registering victories in its three of the total five constituencies.

The Congress, however, improved its voter share in Arki, Solan and Kasauli but faced a decline in Nalagarh and Doon, though it could win only two seats.

The BJP won the Kasauli seat by a narrow margin of 24 votes and as against 54.23 per cent votes gained by it in the 2009 poll, its share dropped to 47.08 per cent. The Congress, despite considerably improving its voter share from 38.07 in 2009 to 47.03, lost this seat by a whisker.

In Solan, the Congress managed to improve its tally from 43.91 per cent in 2009 to 49.9 per cent, thus winning the seat while the BJP suffered a steep decline in its voter share from 52.12 per cent to 40.7 per cent.

The BJP failed to field a strong candidate from here though it was held on three successive terms by its leader Rajeev Bindal. His shifting to Nahan and absence of a senior leader led to a lacklustre campaigning which lead to the party’s defeat.

The results of the Arki constituency have again highlighted factional feud in the Congress cadres where the emergence of a rebel, Amar Chand Pal, supported by a section of the Congress, played spoilsport and considerably divided the Congress votes. This proved to be an advantage for BJP’s sitting MLA Govind Ram Sharma who despite having a considerable opposition managed to win the seat for the second time.

The BJP’s poll percentage declined from 45.7 in 2009 to mere 30 per cent now.

Despite a considerable improvement in the Congress’ voter share from 16.34 per cent in 2009 to 26.46 per cent, the presence of a rebel, Amar Chand Pal, who mustered 18.31 per cent votes tilted the balance in favour of the BJP.

The eight other candidates who had contested managed to poll 25.1 per cent votes.

In Doon, despite the Congress facing a decline in its voter share from 37.27 in 2009 to 32.9 per cent, it managed to romp home the seat as the BJP’s performance hit an abysmally low from 44.13 per cent in 2009 to 18.2 per cent now. The two rebels from the Congress and the BJP managed to garner more votes than BJP’s official nominee and sitting MLA Vinod Chandel.

The BJP rebel managed to grab 32.9 per cent votes while the Congress rebel polled 24.7 per cent.

In Nalagarh that was wrested only a year ago by the Congress, it suffered a decline in its voter share from 51.4 per cent in last year’s bypoll to 40.09 per cent while the BJP improved its tally from 48.57 per cent to 55.65 per cent.

Hamirpur, December 21
Both major parties, the Congress and the BJP have registered a decline in vote percentage in Una district. In Hamirpur, while the BJP vote share has declined, the Congress vote share has increased by about 10 percent in comparison to the vote share it secured in the 2007 Assembly elections.

In Hamirpur district, the BJP, which had secured 55.49 per cent votes in the 2007 election, has secured 32 per cent votes in the present election. The Congress, which had secured 20.08 per cent votes in the district in the 2007 election, has gained about 10 per cent more votes by getting 32.1 per cent votes in 2012.

In Una district, the Congress has lost seven per cent share this time. In 2007 election, the Congress had secured 44 per cent votes, but its vote share in 2012 has come down to 37 per cent. The vote percentage of the BJP has decreased by one per cent in Una district. The BJP had secured 38 per cent votes in 2007, while the party has secured 37 per cent votes in 2012 election.

In Hamirpur district, two major factors have played an important role in the decline of the BJP’s vote share. While an independent candidate, Rajender Rana, secured 24,674 votes in the new-formed Sujanpur constituency, the victory margin of outgoing Chief Minister PK Dhumal of over 25,000 votes secured in the Bamsan Assembly constituency during the 2007 election has also been reduced to 9,302 votes after shifting to Hamirpur constituency in the 2012 election.

However, the Congress’s vote share has increased by about 10 per cent in Hamirpur district.

In terms of seat share, while the situation is unchanged in Hamirpur for both the parties, in Una, the Congress has gained one seat.

In Una, the loss of one seat in Gagret to the BJP in the 2012 election, has resulted in a decline of vote percentage of the party.

The delimitation had affected the BJP’s vote share in Hamirpur district. The disintegration of Bamsan constituency represented by Dhumal has also affected the decline of its voting share.

The creation of Sujanpur as a new constituency has affected the vote share of the BJP where former BJP leader, contesting as an independent, secured 24,674 votes.

Panchkula, December 21
A day after Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary won elections on the Congress ticket, the Panchkula police today issued arrest warrants against him and his three accomplices after their name featured in the Jyoti murder case under Section 302, IPC.

The police has registered a murder case against Ram Kumar and his accomplices Dharampal, Gurmeet and Paramjeet in the case.

The four accused are reportedly on the run. The Panchkula police had sought the assistance of the Baddi police and had cordoned off the Sandholi-based residence of Ram Kumar in an attempt to prevent his escape but he was untraceable.

“Arrest warrants have been issued today and we even raided the residence of the MLA but he was not found there. All four are absconding,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Virender Sangwan.

“He was sent notices to join the investigation but he did not cooperate,” he added.

About two buses carrying Haryana Police officials had gone to arrest the MLA and his accomplices at his residence at Sandholi, Baddi. The arrest warrants have also been handed over to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Baddi, S Arul.

It was on November 22 when 24- year-old Jyoti was found murdered near Sector-21, Panchkula.

The deceased, who was staying as a paying guest at Sector 21-D, Chandigarh, was pursuing her BEd from a private institute in Mohali. She was also working with a security agency in Mohali.

It was learnt that Ram Kumar and his accomplices were in close contact with the girl before her murder.

He had also attended the wedding of Jyoti’s sister in 2009 at Hoshiarpur. Ram Kumar had even asserted his innocence in this case before the media yesterday.

Dalhousie, December 21
The National Himalayan Winter Trekking is being organised in Dalhousie by the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) for the 20th year in succession. Over 1,000 participants from across 16 states are participating in the trekking programme, which is divided in 18 groups.

Every day, one batch of approximately 55 trekkers report at the base camp Banikhet and from there they go to the higher camps at Dalhousie, Kalatop, Khajjiar and Mangla. This year, the expedition started on December 19 and will conclude on January 6.

Anjani Kumar, DFO, Dalhousie, flagged off the first batch of trekkers from the youth hostel, Dalhousie.

Addressing the participants, the DFO said the YHAI was promoting adventure eco-tourism in the state in a big way through such treks, adding that in off-season, such expeditions were giving a much-needed fillip to the thriving tourism business in the state.

On the occasion, Stimit Srimany, co-chairman, Adventure Promotion Committee of the YHAI, said the trekkers were advised to be environment conscious. The trekkers would also collect non bio-degradable litters on the itinerary and deposit it at the next camp.

Field director PK Savani highlighted the objective of the adventure programme.

The YHAI, which is affiliated to the International Youth Hostels Federation (IYHF), has been organising trekking programmes at different locations of the state, thereby promoting adventure tourism.

Shimla, December 21
The Centre, the state government and Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) signed an agreement with KfW for a loan of Euro 150 million (Rs 1,080 crore) for the execution of the 450-MW Shongtong Karcham Hydroelectric Project at New Delhi today.

The loan was executed by Rajesh Khullar, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Finance, Oskar von Maltzan, Country Director, KfW, India, and Devendra K Sharma, Managing Director, HPPCL, on behalf of their respective organisations.

The loan will be utilised for financing the electro-mechanical works of the project that will generate about 159.4 crore units of energy on completion in 2017.

Devendra K Sharma thanked the Centre and the KfW for sanctioning the loan and said the entire loan was in two parts. The first part amounting to Euro 43.13 million (Rs 310 crore) would bear the interest rate of 0.75 per cent and the second part amounting to Euro 106.87 million (Rs 770 crore) would have an interest rate of 3.83 per cent. The weighted average interest rate for the entire loan would be 2.14 per cent per annum.

He said it was the cheapest loan secured by the corporation from any funding agency so far. The loan had been negotiated and signed within the shortest time ever taken amongst loans sanctioned by the KfW worldwide.

Chamba, December 21
A huge dry tree was suddenly uprooted alongside the official residence of the district Superintendent of Police (SP) in Chamba town on Tuesday night. It fell on the personal vehicle belonging to the SP, BM Sharma. The car was badly damaged.

Had the tree been uprooted towards the side of the residential building, it would have certainly destroyed the building. However, there was no loss of life.

There had been a common demand in the region that dried-up trees on government land alongside residential areas and roads needed to be removed with the permission of the Forest Department so that the uprooting of such trees might not cause any loss to society.

Chamba, December 21
The Senior Citizen Sports Club, Chamba, will play a goodwill cricket match against senior citizens of Mandi on December 30. The Chamba team will leave for Mandi on December 27.

Talking to mediapersons here, Maj SC Nayyar, convener, Senior Citizen Sports Club, said Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, Devesh Kumar had given his consent for arranging goodwill cricket matches at Mandi.

“The aim of these matches is to reinforce the bond of affection and fraternity that will rejuvenate the vanishing physical, mental and spiritual health of senior citizens. These goodwill matches would go a long way in reviving the old traditions,” Nayyar said.

It is evident from the annals of the erstwhile hilly states that Chamba, Mandi, Suket and Kullu used to play friendly cricket matches in their states. For this purpose, the rajas had developed pitches known as “chowgan”. The Senior Citizen Sports Club of Chamba has been organising goodwill cricket matches for senior citizens of Himachal Pradesh since 2008. Earlier, such matches were organised against Mandi, Suket, Nahan and Kullu in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. But the Chamba team had won all the matches. Major Nayyar further said Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) president Anurag Thakur would be requested to include these goodwill matches in their annual sports calendar so that veteran players could also get the opportunity to participate in these matches and keep themselves mentally and physically fit.