Shimla: Senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla on Thursday said that the party chief will decide who will be the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh after the ruling BJP is ousted from power in the 2022 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. Rajeev Shukla, who is also the in-charge leader of the Himachal Pradesh Congress, said the party chief would take a decision on the chief minister’s post. On the speculation of horse-trading, Shukla said that there is no scope for it.
According to the trends received so far, Shukla said that the Congress party is winning around 40 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party is winning 25 seats, so the BJP will not attempt horse-trading. Speaking on the plan ahead, Rajeev Shukla said that he and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel would himself reach Shimla and inform the party high command after getting the opinion of the MLAs.
#Himachal Pradesh election , This is the victory of the people of the state. People voted for change and against unemployment and inflation. We will remain united and there will be no factionalism in our party. We met party chief M Kharge and discussed about our next step: Rajeev Shukla, Congress pic.twitter.com/sXBh1bys3e– ANI (@ANI) December 8, 2022
Giving credit for the victory to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rajiv Shukla said that Priyanka Gandhi worked hard for the Himachal elections. Rajeev Shukla also linked Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to Himachal’s victory and said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra had a positive impact on the voters of the hill state.
Shukla said that the Congress party has talked about 10 guarantees to the public and the Congress party will fulfill them as soon as the government is formed. “The newly elected Congress MLAs will meet in Chandigarh after the election results and decide on electing the new legislature party leader,” Shukla said.
Shukla said that Priyanka Gandhi took the reins of the campaign in her hands and appreciated her contribution. He also thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and general secretary organization KC Venugopal for their cooperation in election preparations.
He said that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has also had an indirect impact on the elections and among the people. While Shukla is the AICC in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was appointed as the senior observer for the election.
In the latest results and trends available, the Congress won 39 seats, while the ruling had won 26 seats. Three independents also emerged victorious. Aam Aadmi Party failed to open account. Himachal Pradesh has not voted for any current government since 1985. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that he respected the people’s mandate. “I respect the mandate. In a while, I am going to submit my resignation to the governor,” Thakur told reporters here.
In the 68-member assembly, the Congress needs 35 for a majority. Chief Minister Thakur is leading over his nearest Congress rival from Seraj seat in Mandi district. However, several of his ministers including Suresh Bhardwaj, Ram Lal Markanda and Surveen Chowdhary lost the elections.
BJP’s Anil Sharma, son of former Union Minister Sukh Ram, retained the Mandi Sadar seat by defeating his rival from the Congress. Congress leader Mukesh Agnihotri, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, is leading from Haroli, while former state Congress chief Kuldeep Rathod (Theog), former ministers Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala) and Dhani Ram Shandil (Solan) are leading from their respective parties. Moving on. rivals.
The three independents who won are Hoshiar Singh from Dehra and KL Thakur from Nalagarh. Sitting Congress MLA from Shimla (Rural) Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, retained his seat by defeating his nearest BJP rival Ravi Kumar Mehta by 13,860 votes.
Senior Congress leader and sitting MLA Asha Kumari is trailing from Dalhousie while Congress’s Kaul Singh is trailing from Darrang. The counting of votes for the 68-member assembly began at 8 am. The BJP gave the slogan “Raj nahi, rivaj badlega”, meaning “the convention will change, not the government”, but failed to buck the trend.
For the Congress, a victory in Himachal Pradesh is a must for a revival as it has been battered by electoral defeats in the last few years. The Congress has called a meeting of all its newly-elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh in Chandigarh on Thursday, and the meeting is likely to pass a resolution authorizing the Congress president to elect the CLP leader.
On November 12, around 76.44 per cent voters exercised their franchise. Altogether 412 candidates are in the fray, including 24 women and 99 independents. The BJP and the Congress contested all 68 seats, while the AAP fielded candidates in 67 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party in 53 and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 11.
In 2017, the BJP had won 44 seats, the Congress 21 and the CPIM one. Two independent candidates also won. The main opposition party raised other issues including inflation, unemployment, old pension scheme. Women and youth were given special attention in the BJP’s campaign in Himachal, with the party preparing a standalone manifesto for women for the first time in the state’s history.