Riding an anti-incumbency wave and staving off corruption charges against its veteran leader Virbhadra Singh, Congress wrested power from BJP in Himachal Pradesh with a wafer-thin majority of 36 in the 68-member Assembly.
Disproving predictions of a close contest, the state lived to its reputation of voting out the party in power,giving the ruling BJP, which suffered from severe infighting and rebel candidates, only 26 seats.
The Independents, mostly BJP and Congress rebels,won five seats while Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) floated by BJP dissidents won one seat.In the last elections in 2007, the BJP had bagged 41 seats and Congress 23.
78-year-old Virbhadra Singh, a five-time chief minister who was given the reins of the party on the eve of elections and who ran a spirited campaign, won from Shimla (Rural).
Singh, against whom BJP had levelled allegations of corruption during his tenure as Steel Minister in Delhi in the campaign appears to have emerged unscathed from the CD case filed by the Dhumal government in which charges were framed against him leading to his resignation from the Union Government.
While chief minister P K Dhumal won from Hamirpur constituency,his four cabinet colleagues Narinder Bragata, Khimi Ram,Krishan Kumar and Romesh Dhawala lost the elections.
The BJP could win only five out of 23 seats in Kangra and Shimla districts and Mohan Lal of Congress won by highest margin of 28,415 votes from Rohroo, which was represented by former chief minister V B Singh but was reserved during delimitation.
HLP wrested three seats each from BJP and Congress. The Congress wrested the Banjjar, Ani, Sundernagar, Dalhousie, Churah, Bharmaur, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Badsar, Sri Renukaji, Bilaspur, Chintpurni, Jubbal and Kotkhai, Rohroo, Doon, Solan,Sulah,Dharamsala,Jwalamukhi,Palampur and Jaisingpur seats from BJP and seats from BJP and Karsog, Theog and Nurpur seats from Independents.
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