The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate wasn’t the only major upset in the Himachal Pradesh poll results. Here’s a list of the biggest upsets.
The BJP swept to victory in Himachal Pradesh, but received a major setback with its chief ministerial candidate losing. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh won in his own constituency, but many senior Congress leaders lost to their BJP rivals.
Here are the biggest upsets the Himachal Pradesh elections saw:
Prem Kumar Dhumal (BJP)
The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, Prem Kumar Dhumal, couldn’t really participate in the party’s celebrations as he slumped to defeat in Sujanpur constituency. Congress’s Rajinder Rana, who was a protege of the BJP leader, emerged victorious in the constituency.
Dhumal, a former chief minister of the state, had switched constituencies for this election and didn’t stand from his bastion of Hamirpur. Incidentally, the BJP candidate from Hamirpur won the seat by over 6,000 votes.
Satpal Singh Satti (BJP)
Another big loss for the BJP was the party’s state unit chief losing in the Una constituency.
Satti had won from the same seat in the 2012 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections by a margin of 1,709 votes.
Kaul Singh Thakur (Congress)
A cabinet minister in the Virbhadra Singh government, Thakur, lost the Darang constituency to Jawahar Thakur of the BJP.
Singh had won this seat in the 2012 assembly elections. The veteran Congress leader, who was contesting his ninth state election, had won the seat eight times in the past.
Sudhir Sharma (Congress)
Sudhir Sharma, who was Urban Development minister in the Virbhadra Singh government and a three-time MLA, lost to Kishan Kapoor of the BJP. In the last assembly elections, Sharma had won from the same constituency, Dharamshala, by a margin of over 5,000 votes. He had earlier won from the Baijnath constituency twice.
Sharma’s father Pandit Sant Ram was a cabinet minister in the state government, and was president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee.
Thakur Singh Bharmour (Congress)
A five-time MLA, Thakur Singh Bharmour, was the forest minister in the Congress government. However, he lost to BJP’s Jia Lal in Bharmour by a margin of 7,439 votes.
He had won from the Bharmour constituency by a margin of 3,467 votes in the last state election.