Shimla, May 16
The BJP today scripted history by winning all four Lok Sabha seats as well as the Sujanpur Assembly bypoll with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh also falling victim to the saffron wave that swept Himachal Pradesh like elsewhere in the country.

Leading the BJP's victory march was the party veteran and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar who won by a convincing victory margin of over 1,70,072 lakh votes as he led in each one of the 17 Assembly segments under the Kangra seat.

BJP's Narinder Thakur also won the Sujanpur bypoll by a slender margin of 538 votes. He defeated Anita Rana, wife of Hamirpur candidate Rajinder Rana, in a close contest.

Anurag Thakur, sitting MP from Hamirpur and son of the two-time Chief Minister PK Dhumal, also registered a comfortable win of 98,403 votes though political analysts had predicted a close fight for him. It was a hat-trick of victories for Anurag, who is also the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

The saffron wave appeared so strong that Pratibha, who had won by a margin of 1.37 lakh votes in the Mandi bypoll in June 2013, also suffered defeat at the hands of BJP candidate Ram Swaroop who made his electoral debut in these polls. In the 2009 poll, the BJP had won three seats while the Congress had only one in its favour.

Jubilant BJP supporters raised slogans in favour of Narendra Modi, waved saffron flags and sang and danced throughout the day as results filtered in from counting centres across the state with the BJP maintaining lead in all four segments from the first round.

In fact, it was a sweet victory for Anurag who has been at the receiving end of the state Vigilance Bureau that has registered three cases against him in the probe against the HPCA headed by him.

"The verdict is a befitting reply to the politics of vendetta unleashed by the Virbhadra regime as the people reject such personalised victimisation, which has been the only agenda of Virbahdra Singh," said Dhumal, as he sat with ecstatic party workers in the BJP office in Hamirpur.

The BJP further strengthened its grip on the traditional Congress bastion of Shimla by retaining the seat for the second consecutive time. Sitting BJP MP Varinder Kashyap proved that his last victory was not a flash in the pan.

This is for the first time in Himachal that the BJP has won all four seats. The Congress has achieved this feat on four occasions in 1971, 1980, 1984 and 1996. The fact that the people of Himachal for the first time voted in favour of a party which is not in power in the state clearly established the fact that it is a vote against the 10-year rule of the Congress-led UPA regime. The lacklustre performance of the Congress regime in the state too seemed to have adversely affected the party's poll prospects.

A majority of the ministers in the Virbhadra Cabinet could not ensure a lead in their segments with BJP getting a lead of 10,564 in GS Bali's segment of Nagrota, 8,092 in Dharamsala represented by Sudhir Sharma, 9,899 in Fatehpur represented by Sujan Singh Pathania, 6,394 in Mandi represented by Anil Sharma, 5,372 in Solan represented by Dhani Ram Shandil and 3,321 in Vidya Stokes' segment.

It is only three segments, Haroli represented by Mukesh Agnihotri where the Congress has a lead of 6,960, 1,648 in Darang represented by Kaul Singh Thakur and 1,564 in Bharmour represented by Thakur Singh Bharmouri.

The BJP also got a lead of 3,822 from Nadaun, the segment of state Congress president Sukhwinder Sukhu.

As expected, the Aam Aadmi Party and the CPM failed to cut ice with the electorate, proving again that the two-party system remains well-entrenched in the state.

Sitting Kangra MP Rajan Sushant, who contested on the AAP ticket, could barely got nearly 25,000 votes.

Shimla, May 16
Notwithstanding the aggressive Congress onslaught, Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur's impressive hat-trick has not only added to his political stature but also proved that his father and former Chief Minister PK Dhumal is firmly entrenched in Hamirpur.

Anurag has not only registered his third successive win against Congress nominee Rajinder Rana, but also managed to increase his victory margin in the 2009 poll from 72,732 to 98,187 votes.

Proving his detractors wrong, who targeted the young politician for being inaccessible owing to his pre-occupation with cricketing world, he will now aim for a ministerial berth in the Modi Cabinet.

More than Anurag, the win means much more for his father Dhumal. With the BJP regaining ground within 15 months after having lost the Assembly elections in December 2012, the victory has come as a morale booster for the party and Dhumal.

It was one of the most aggressively fought election in Hamirpur with Congress fielding Rajinder Rana, Dhumal's protégé. Rana is probably the biggest loser.

With his wife Anita Rana losing the by-poll from the Sujanpur Assembly segment, Rana's political calculations have gone completely haywire and the switch-over to the Congress has spelt doom for him.

AAP candidate Kamal Kanta Batra managed to get merely 15,329 votes. Despite a sizeable number of ex-servicemen and serving soldiers constituting the electorate in Hamirpur, she failed to woo them.

Shimla, May 16
The drubbing of the Congress is a serious setback for the six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who not only led the party’s election campaign, but also had a complete say in the allotment of tickets.

The rout of the Congress, including the defeat of CM's wife Pratibha Singh, may be termed as the worst political setback to the Congress veteran. It is a dramatic plummeting of political fortunes for the chief minister who was instrumental in bringing the Congress back to power in the state in the Assembly elections only a year ago.

The defeat of Pratibha by 39,856 votes at the hands of Ram Swaroop, an RSS functionary with no experience of electoral politics, is being perceived as a reflection on the leadership of Virbhadra, who will have to do a lot of answering.

Even though the going for the Congress appeared tough in the run-up to the elections, a majority felt being the CM’s wife, Pratibha would sail through. What has made the defeat even more embarrassing for Virbhadra is that the BJP got a lead of 1,740 votes from his own Assembly segment of Shimla (Rural).

Virbhadra Singh, who is already facing a CBI probe regarding his income tax returns and other financial transaction, could face difficult days ahead, particularly when the BJP-led NDA government is assuming charge at the Centre. The fact that during his 15-month rule, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau turned the heat on PK Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur could add to his misery.

Hamirpur, May 16
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal has asked Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to resign immediately after getting a drubbing in the elections in the state.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Dhumal said, "Though it was a Modi wave at the national level, it is a mandate against the state government and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh should resign without losing any time."

Dhumal said, "Out of the 68 Assembly segments in the state, the Congress has lost in 60 and the CM has no right to continue in the government since he himself was saying that there was no Modi wave and it was his wave which was at work here."

He said, "The people who were claiming to bundle us out in the elections have been bundled out by the voters. Chief Minister's son Vikramaditya Singh was making statements every day that he was here to bundle us out. Not he, but Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh has also been shown the door by voters in Mandi."

Dhumal said, "The voters have shown mirror to the Congress government in the state and sellable people have been sent back to the place from where they came."

Thanking voters of Hamirpur and Sujanpur constituencies, Dhumal said, "It was a strong Modi wave in the country and the Congress has even failed to cross the figure of 100."

He said, "Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh made false cases against his opponents and transferred a number of government employees for political reasons and people of the state have given him a proper reply in this elections."

Shimla, May 16
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh rejected the demand for his resignation, stating that he would complete his term in office as the people of the state had given him a mandate for five years.

“If wishes were horses beggars would ride them,” is how he reacted to former Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s demand that he should step down as the poll results were also a mandate against the state government. Addressing a press conference here today, he congratulated Modi, stating that he should now fulfil the promises made to the electorate.

Virbhadra said the Lok Sabha elections were contested on national issues and not state issues, so there was no question of his resigning. In response to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s decision to resign, Virbhadra said he could be having some compulsion which he (Virbhadra) did not have.

“The BJP has won riding high on the Modi wave, which had become evident even in Himachal after the Gujarat Chief Minister’s election tour of the state. But I thought we would win Mandi by 10,000 to 12,000 votes,” he said on his wife Pratibha’s defeat.

He admitted that the Congress could not match up to the high-tech aggressive campaign launched by the BJP through the media in which Modi was virtually sold like a commodity.

Una, May 16
State BJP’s president Satpal Singh Satti today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on moral grounds, saying that people of the state had rejected the policies and programmes of his government during the last one and a half years.

He said Virbhadra could not even ensure victory for his wife Pratibha Singh, which meant that people were totally against the Congress government. The verdict was against the bad performance of the government. Satti attributed the BJP’s win in the state and the country to Narendra Modi.

Dharamsala, May 16
Voters of the Kangra constituency positively answered the "Dil maange more" call made by Narendra Modi during an election rally at Palampur in the election campaign.

BJP candidate from Kangra Shanta Kumar has won with a historic margin of 1,70,072 votes.

During the earlier parliamentary elections, the victory margin had remained between 18,000 to 25,000 votes between the Congress and the BJP. However, this time, the BJP veteran leader was given a landslide victory in the entire Kangra constituency.

Shanta won in all 17 Assembly constituencies falling in Kangra. This despite the fact that the ruling Congress had 11 MLAs, including ministers in the Assembly segments in Kangra.

The BJP won by 8,042 votes in the Dharamsala Assembly segment, 11,426 votes in Palampur, 14,555 votes in Baijnath, 14,319 votes in Kangra, 10,564 votes in Nagrota, 12,798 in Sullah, 6,365 votes in Jaisinghpur, 13,152 votes in Jwalamukhi, 1,650 votes in Jawali, 9,899 votes in Fatehpur, 85,979 votes in Indora, 12,427 votes in Nurpur, 10,725 votes in Bhattiyat, 8,548 votes in Dalhousie, 9,575 votes in Chamba and 2,541 votes in Churah.

The OBC vote bank that Congress candidate Chander Kumar was relying on heavily did not stand behind him. Despite the fact that there are 32 per cent OBCs in the Kangra constituency, he lost by a huge margin. Chander Kumar lost even in his home constituency Jawali by 1,650 votes. He lost miserably in OBC-dominated Assembly constituencies Shahpur, Kangra, Nagrota, Jwalamukhi and Sullah.

Chander Kumar polled just 2,86,091 votes against 4,56,163 votes polled for Shanta Kumar. AAP candidate and former BJP MP Rajan Sushant failed to make much impact as he polled just 24,430 votes.

Shanta Kumar came to Dharamsala and addressed a press conference. Thanking the voters for the landslide victory, overwhelmed Shanta Kumar said he would fulfil all promises made to people.

BJP workers across the district celebrated the victory of Shanta Kumar and bursted crackers.

Shanta Kumar said there was a very strong anti-incumbency against the 10-year rule of the UPA government. Narendra Modi emerged as a charismatic leader who had been accepted as PM candidate by the country. In Himachal, the people had reversed the trend that the party in power in the state also won the elections. It was for the first time that the people had voted against the ruling party in the state.

Chander Kumar did not respond to repeated calls. He also did not come out of his house to interact with the media to give reaction to his defeat.

Landslide victory Won by 1,70,072 votes, the highest-ever margin in the history of parliamentary elections in Himachal Won in all 17 Assembly constituencies in Kangra Chander Kumar polled just 2,86,091 votes against 4,56,163 votes polled for Shanta Kumar AAP candidate Rajan Sushant polled just 24,430 votes

Shimla, May 16
The Communist Party of India-Marxist and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party failed to cut any ice with the state’s voters.

Candidates of both parties lost their security deposits as well. According to political analysts, the results have proved that there was no room for a third party in state.

While AAP secured nearly 2.17 per cent vote share, CPM’s vote share was dismal. It secured just 0. 87 per cent vote share, which received further drubbing from its 2009 show, when party candidate Dr Onkar Shad secured 20,000 votes from the Mandi seat. CPM’s Kushal Bhardwaj from Mandi and Jagat Ram from Shimla got 25,389 votes altogether in this election. Bhardwaj managed to secure only 11,434 votes, while Jagat Ram had to satisfy with 13, 955 votes.

It is not only AAP and the CPM, the performance of BSP and the Samajvadi Party also remained poor.

This has once again proved that voters have not accepted the possibility of a third force in the state, poll experts said. Former BJP MP and AAP’s candidate from Kangra Rajan Sushant, ended up as a poor third securing just 24,430 votes against BJP’s Shanta Kumar, who secured 4.51 lakh votes. Chander Kumar of the Congress secured 2.86 lakh votes.

Similarly, AAP’s Hamirpur candidate Kamal Kanta Batra, who is Kargil war hero Capt Vikram Batra’s mother, secured just 15,400 votes. BJP’s Anurag Thakur retained the seat defeating his nearest rival Rajinder Rana of the Congress.

Subhash Chander, AAP candidate from Shimla, secured 14,233 votes, while its Mandi candidate Jai Chand Thakur secured 9,343 votes. Maheshwar Singh’s HLP that supported AAP failed miserably. It is for the first time that BJP has won all four seats, when the Congress government is in power, thereby leaving no chance for a third front or a party.

Shimla, May 16
The convincing victory of the BJP in Shimla (Reserved) constituency by a huge margin of 84,187 votes has established that the Congress has failed to regain its foothold in this constituency spread over three districts of Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur, once considered to be impregnable forts of the Congress.

The Congress was pinning hopes on substantial leads from seven Assembly segments in Shimla district, the home district of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and senior Cabinet Minister Vidya Stokes, but the BJP secured a lead of 12,434 votes after wiping out the lead of 13,127 votes gained by the Congress candidate in his own Assembly segment of Rohru.

The Congress has five MLAs in this district and one independent member from Chopal is also supporting the government but the party could not get the lead in six out of seven constituencies, including the Assembly segments of Shimla (Rural) and Theog, represented by Chief Minister and Vidya Stokes.

The erosion in the Congress votebank in Shimla district sealed the fate of the party as it was already wary of doing better than the BJP in Solan and Sirmaur districts. The BJP polled 52.3 per cent votes in this constituency against 40.01 per cent votes polled by the Congress and secured a lead of 48,629 and 23,124 votes in five constituencies each in Solan and Sirmaur districts.

The BJP got lead in all five Assembly segments in Solan district and three out of five Assembly segments in Sirmaur district with BJP candidate Virender Kashyap securing a massive lead 16,849 from Paonta Sahib and 9,183 from Nahan while Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakata got the lead of 2,412 from Shillai.

The BJP had won this seat for the first time in 2009 but the margin of victory was 27,327 votes. But this time, the party has made a deep dent and increased the lead to 84,193. Political observers opined that the silent employees voted in favour of the BJP and infighting within the Congress further added salt to the wounds.

Mandi, May 16
In a major setback to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma defeated Congress candidate Pratibha Singh (CM’s wife) by a margin of 39,856 votes in the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

The Congress candidate, who was expecting to repeat her performance after an impressive win in the by-election by over 1.36 lakh votes about 10 months ago, secured 3,22,968 votes against 3,62,824 votes polled by the BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma.

CPM candidate Kushal Bhardwaj polled 13,955 votes, AAP candidate Jai Chand Thakur 9,346 and BSP candidate Lala Ram polled 5,163 votes.

Ram Swaroop Sharma has credited his victory to the strong Modi wave and people’s mandate against the UPA government’s misrule.

Talking about the factors that led to his victory Sharma said: “There was a strong urge for change in governance and Narendra Modi became a symbol of change.” “The UPA government’s misrule, false promises made by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and the politics of deceit followed by him and his wife played a major role in these elections. These factors helped a commoner like me win. Also the people rejected the regime of Raja and Rani.”

Pratibha Singh said: “The voters were swayed by the Modi wave in the country which impacted the election outcome here too.”

Jubilant supporters of Ram Swaroop Sharma took out a victory procession in the town, fired crackers and distributed sweets.

MANDI: The drubbing to Congress candidate Pratibha Singh in the Mandi parliamentary constituency at the hands of BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma is quite startling for both parties. Ram Swaroop Sharma, who was considered relatively a week candidate by his opponents, has left everybody by surprise as he not only reduced the margin of victory of Pratibha Singh in the last by-election, but also registered a convincing victory by polling 39,865 votes extra. The poll result must have come as a rude shock to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, the Congress candidate who had won the by-election from here 10 months ago by over 1.36 lakh votes. The CM enjoyed a considerable personal influence in this constituency, as it is considered a Congress stronghold. The Congress had secured a considerable lead in 16 out of 17 Assembly segments in the by-election, but in this election it could secure a lead in five Assembly segments only and the BJP improved its lead in 12 Assembly segments. While both parties are seeing the results as an effect of the Modi wave at the national level, several regional factors were also at play. While anti-incumbency against the UPA government was the most visible factor for BJP candidates' win, price rise, corruption and vote for a stable government at the Centre also turned the table against the Congress. The Congress candidate relied heavily on the support base of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Congress MLAs, the past record of voting for a candidate of the ruling party in the state and development works undertaken by the UPA government, but Modi wave decimated all these factors. The overconfidence and failure of Congress MLAs in bringing a lead from their constituencies and reduction in the lead in CM's pocket borough, Rampur, matched by a huge lead of the BJP in Jogindernagar, Balh, Sundernagar and Mandi constituencies, worked in the favour of BJP. The common man's tag given to Ram Swaroop Sharma also became instrumental in his win from here. —TNS

Shimla, May 16
It was “NaMo NaMo” all the way as the saffron brigade burst into celebrations and came on roads waving BJP flags. Fireworks and distribution of laddoos marked the celebrations at the party office (Deep Kamal) in Chakkar.

Beating of drums and Himachali Nati (a local folk dance) by party workers marching from BJP headquarters at Chakkar to the main town reflected the boisterous mood of the saffron brigade. The BJP office was decorated with party flags and the atmosphere was surcharge with chants of “Modi Zindabad”.

The results were unprecedented as BJP leaders were themselves not sure of winning all four seats and that too by a huge margin.

Thousands of persons gathered outside the media centre of the Public Relations Department at the Scandal Point. The announcement of BJP candidates leading from their respective constituency was greeted by loud cheers.

Solan, May 16
Solan and Sirmaur districts have once again proved decisive in scripting the BJP’s victory in Shimla seat where Virender Kashyap has not only created history, but also secured a lead of 71,779 votes.

The BJP gained a maximum lead of 48,655 votes from Solan district which proved decisive in its victory and strengthened Kashyap’s position. The party secured a lead of 23,124 from Sirmaur.

The hard work put in by party workers helped the BJP consolidate its position in Solan and as against the meagre lead of 12,290 secured in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the party registered a four-fold increase in its votes and secured lead in all five Assembly constituencies.

The BJP, which has three of the five Assembly seats in Solan, procured the highest lead of 17,526 from the Nalagarh Assembly segment followed by 12,174 from Doon, 8,849 from Arki, 4,734 from Kasauli and 5,372 from Solan.

Nalagarh has always proved to be the trump card of the BJP and after winning this seat by the highest margin of 9,308 votes in the Vidhan Sabha, MLA KL Thakur has again proved his mettle by securing the highest lead of 17,526 in the Shimla Lok Sabha.

The BJP also gained considerably from Sirmaur district where it secured a lead of 23,124 votes which was an increase of 2,891 votes secured by it in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll. The party also secured the second highest lead of 16,849 from Paonta Sahib Assembly segment.

In the remaining seats of Sirmaur district, the BJP got a lead of 9,183 in Nahan and 392 in Pacchad. The Congress, however, gained a marginal lead of 2,421 votes in Shillai and 879 in Renuka, thus giving the BJP a clear edge.

The Congress has suffered a huge defeat in all Assembly seats where either rebels had emerged in the Vidhan Sabha polls or a section of the Congressmen had worked against the official nominees, thus affecting party’s poll prospects.

The BJP not only secured good margins from all such seats which included Paonta Sahib, Doon, Arki and Nalagarh, but it has helped it romp home the Shimla seat for the second time in a row.

Marred by factionalism, the Congress suffered defeat in entire Solan and three of the five Assembly segments of Sirmaur. The Congress also performed poorly in Solan which is represented by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister DR Shandil and its performance was equally appalling in Arki.

Kangra, May 16
Workers and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today celebrated the grand victory of the party in the country. The jubilant workers gathered at the Nehru Chowk in the town and burst crackers, distributed sweets and raised party slogans. They, along with supporters of the party, danced at the chowk and greeted one another.

Speakers on the occasion said people of the country, irrespective of cast, colour, region and religion, voted the party to power and pinned their hopes in the party leadership.

They expressed happiness over the landslide victory in the hill state where all four seats were won by the BJP candidates. Shanta Kumar had won by a huge margin.

Reports of celebrations were also received from different parts of the district.

Shimla, May 16
It is after a struggle of two decades that Narinder Thakur, son of BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand Thakur, has finally tasted victory as he defeated his Congress rival Anita Rana by a slender margin of 538 votes.

Narinder, who was completely banking on his father’s political legacy, finally managed to win in the fifth election which he contested after returning to the BJP just before the polls. Strangely, Narinder, who had contested the 2012 Assembly election against PK Dhumal from Hamirpur and Lok Sabha against his son Anurag Thakur in 2009 on the Congress tickets, managed to win with the help of the former CM.

Anita Rana, who was totally dependent on her husband’s 15-month stint as an independent MLA from Sujanpur, gave a tough fight despite the Modi wave. In fact, the BJP got a lead of 3,220 votes from Sujanpur in the Lok Sabha segment, but Anita lost only by 538 votes. Having been pushed into politics with the holding of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and Assembly by-poll, she was completely at a loss, trying to find her feet.

The complete backing by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also could not ensure Anita’s victory. In fact, former BJP MLA Urmil Thakur, sister-in-law of Narinder, also supported Anita and campaigned for her extensively. Urmil had contested as the BJP nominee from Sujanpur in the 2012 Assembly polls.

Notwithstanding, political divisions within the family, Narinder managed to win riding on the Modi wave.

Una, May 16
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Anurag Thakur secured a lead of 20,323 votes against his nearest rival Rajinder Rana of the Congress in Una district. The counting began today morning at five counting stations at Government College, Una, amidst tight security and concluded at about 1.30 pm.

The district administration had made arrangements to announce round-wise results through the public address system at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. However, as the results began to trickle out, Congress workers were seen making a beeline outside the stadium, while the stadium would echo with pro-Narendra modi and pro-BJP slogans every time a result was announced.

After the results of all five Assembly segments from Una were announced, state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti led a celebration procession. Kutlehar MLA Virender Kanwar, other BJP MLAs from the district were also present, besides party district president Balbir Bagga and former MLA Balbir Chaudhary.

The BJP secured the maximum lead of 11,415 votes from Una Sadar Assembly segment, represented by Satpal Satti, followed by 6,597 votes from Kutlehar, 5,667 from Gagret and 3,604 from Chintpurni (reserved) segments. It was only the Haroli segment, represented by Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, where the Congress could manage a face-saving lead of 6,960 votes.