Hamirpur, June 5
BJP candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal defeated his nearest rival Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by 80,059 votes in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection today.

Dhumal polled 3,82,126 votes while Thakur got 3,02,069. The other four contestants could not cross the five-figure mark and lost their deposits.

The result is being considered as a big setback for the ruling Congress as the elections for the next Assembly are due in February.

Dhumal polled maximum 31,415 votes in his home assembly segments of Bamsan. He secured 20,586 votes more than the Congress candidate here. Dhumal led in 15 assembly segments out of total 17, while Thakur could manage leads in only two Assembly segments of Kotkehloor (7,803) and Santokhgarh (5,882).

Keeping open the option of Prem Kumar Dhumal being the next Chief Minister of the state if the party comes to power after the forthcoming Assembly elections, newly appointed in charge of Himachal affairs Sat Pal Jain said, “All options are open on the question of Dhumal becoming the next CM as there is no bar on him. The issue will be decided by the party high command at an appropriate time. I endorse all statements made in this context by the party high command or my predecessor Sahib Singh Verma.”

The segment-wise leads established by Dhumal in various segments are: Hamirpur (12,672), Mewa (12,808), Nadaun (3,800), Naduanta (11,711), Gagret (1,240), Una (7,688), Chintpurni (3,428), Kutlehar (2,947) Jaswan (1,252), Pragapur (1,914), Jawalaji (7,770), Bilaspur (3,520), Gherwin (1,780), Ghumarwin (1,513) and Bamsan (20,586).

While Dhumal has been elected for the third time from the Hamirpur parliamentary seat, this is the third consecutive defeat for Ram Lal Thakur from here. In the last election, he had lost to Suresh Chandel by a margin of 1,628 votes.

Expressing gratitude to the voters of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, especially the youth and women, Dhumal said his victory was the victory of the people and a mandate against the four-and-half-year rule of the Virbhadra Singh government.

He said, “Virbhadra Singh has lost moral right to remain in power as the people have voted against his government in 15 segments out of 17. This reflects that people are fed up with price rise, unemployment, corruption, deteriorating law and order situation and nepotism.”

State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur said, “The personality of Dhumal, price rise, anti-people polices of the government and Hamirpur being a stronghold of the party are some of the major factors behind the party’s win.”