Unstoppable BJP scores hat-trick in Shimla

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, May 23

The BJP scored a hat-trick by winning the Shimla (Reserved) seat third time in a row, defeating the Congress by the margin of 3,27,515 votes. 

The ruling party secured massive leads in all 17 Assembly segments, including Arki and Shimla (Rural), represented by former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh.

Even Congress candidate Dhani Ram Shandil, who is the sitting MLA from Solan, failed to get lead in his segment. Theog, the home turf of HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore, registered a lead of 17,310 for BJP. Rohru, considered the pocket borough of Virbhadra Singh, was also bulldozed by Modi wave and gave a lead of 8,151 votes to the BJP while the second lowest lead 9,799 was in the Jubbal and Kotkhai segment.

The BJP got the highest lead of 39,970 from Nalagarh, followed by Arki (29,454), Paonta (27,517), Chopal (26,860), Nahan (24,563), Kasauli (17,488) and Theog (17,310). It was a virtual requiem for the Congress in its traditional stronghold in Shimla as all its fortress were vanquished. The Congress had secured a lead in Shillai, Shri Renukaji and Rohru in the 2014 polls and won eight Assembly seats Rohru, Shimla (rural), Kasumpti, Solan, Arki, Nalagarh, Shillai and Shri Renukaji seats in the 2017 Assembly elections.

Of 9,13,608 votes polled in Shimla (Reserved) segment, BJP candidate Kashyap secured 6,06,183 (66.35 per cent) votes against 2,78,668 (30.5 per cent) polled to Shandil.  In the 2014 polls, the BJP secured 53.85 per cent votes compared to 49.58 per cent in 2009 while the Congress got 41.07 per cent and 45.61 per cent votes in 2014 and 2009. There were six candidates in the fray and barring the Congress candidate, all defeated candidates lost deposits. 

“The mandate is better than excepted and the victory margin is more than 10,000 in 15 of the 17 segments, said Kashyap, adding that all segments would be developed with focus on rural areas.