BJP rocks Congress citadel in Himachal Pradesh

New Delhi: Yet another citadel of the ruling Congress party fell on Friday with its arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party sweeping to power in the northern province Himachal Pradesh.

Riding the widespread anti-incumbency factor and the planks of development and corruption, BJP won 41 seats in the 68-member state legislative assembly, while the Congress party could manage to win just 23 seats.

Ironically, the Congress defeat came on the day the 122-year-old party was celebrating its foundation day.

This is the second shock for Congress, which heads the ruling coalition at the centre, within five days as it had failed to dislodge the BJP from power in Gujarat, results of which were declared on Sunday.

BJP, which was ousted from power at the centre in 2004, now is ruling five states while it is junior partners in power along with its regional allies in another four states.

Polling in the state took place in two phases. While three seats in the higher reaches of the Himalayan state went to polls on November 14 to beat the seasonal snowfall and the resultant isolation from the rest of the country, voting for the remaining 65 seats took place on December 19.

BJP surged to a comfortable lead as soon as counting for all 68 seats started yesterday morning. The only point of debate was whether the party would be able to reach two-third seats, which is 46. It, however, failed short of that, registering an impressive victory leading to widespread celebrations in the entire state and national capital.

Among prominent persons declared elected include the outgoing chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who managed to retain his Rohru seat with a comfortable margin of 14,377 votes, and BJP's chief ministerial candidate Professor Prem Kumar Dhumal, who defeated his Congress rival at Bamsan constituency by over 26,000 votes.

Interestingly, the Bahujan Samaj Party, which rules Uttar Pradesh, managed to open its account in the state by winning one seat for the first time ever, although its claim to become a power to reckon with in post-poll Himachal Pradesh remained a dream. Independents managed to win three seats. BJP went to polls in the state on twin planks of lack of development and widespread corruption during the past five years of the Congress party rule.

Expectedly, Dhumal, who is a professor of English literature, announced that his government would order inquiries into all cases of corruption during the previous regime.

Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani, who would be BJP prime ministerial candidate during the next general elections, expressed satisfaction at the Himachal outcome and added that the Congress-led government at the centre cannot escape blame for electoral reverses suffered by the ruling coalition in 2007.