Kapoor wins by 4.77 lakh votes

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, May 23

Modi wave swept the Kangra constituency, with BJP candidate and Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor winning with a record margin of 4,77,623 votes. 

Kapoor’s victory margin is among the highest in the country and highest-ever in the history of Himachal. He broke the victory margin record of his political guru Shanta Kumar, who in the 2014 parliamentary elections, won with a margin of 1.70 lakh votes. This victory margin was never expected even by the party leaders.  

Kapoor got 7,25,218 votes, while Pawan Kajal got 2,47,595  votes.

He attributed his victory to policies and development carried out at the ground level by the Modi government. He said the governments at the Centre and Himachal worked for the welfare of the poor and farmers. “I will work for the state and Kangra as an MP and continue the good works initiated by Shanta Kumar,” Kapoor said.

Shanta kept the promise he made to the electorate during poll campaigning. He danced with the BJP workers at his residence in Palampur. He had said he would dance and sing in case Kapoor won with a bigger margin.

The BJP won with record margins from all 17 Assembly constituencies in Kangra that surprised even the sitting MLAs. The party recorded the maximum lead from Shahpur, Sullah and Nurpur. From Shahpur, the BJP secured a lead of 36,120 votes, Nurpur 35,170 votes and Sullah 31,460 votes.

At two polling booths in Nurpur — booth number 18 at Samlet and booth number 19 at Kalagan — the Congress did not get even a single vote.

Congress candidate Pawan Kajal lost from his own constituency. He is sitting Congress MLA from Kangra. The BJP secured a lead of 23,583 votes from the constituency.

Kajal alleged tampering with EVMs while talking to the media after his defeat. He said though there was Modi wave, he could not believe that the Congress could lose from his own constituency.

The results also illustrated that the caste and community mathematics of the Congress failed to yield the desired result. 

The Congress had given ticket to Kajal on the plea that OBC communities would galvanise behind him. However, Kajal lost in all OBC-dominated constituencies, including, Shahpur, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan and Jwalamukhi.

The BJP workers and leaders celebrated the landslide victory of the party. They gathered outside the residence of Kishan Kapoor in Dharamsala and distributed sweets.

At two booths, Congress doesn’t get even single vote

• The BJP won with record margins from all 17 Assembly constituencies in Kangra that surprised even the sitting MLAs. The party recorded the maximum lead from Shahpur, Sullah and Nurpur. 
• From Shahpur, the BJP secured a lead of 36,120 votes, Nurpur 35,170 votes and Sullah 31,460 votes.
• At two polling booths in Nurpur — booth number 18 at Samlet and booth number 19 at Kalagan — the Congress did not get even a single vote.