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Shimla civic polls: Congress wins 24 of 34 Shimla wards in big victory for CM Sukhu, BJP limited to 9

With Thursday's landslide victory, Congress regains control over the civic body after over 10 years. At least 20 women candidates won from different wards, according state poll panel data.

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Shimla: The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh Thursday swept the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) polls by winning 24 of 34 wards. The Bharatiya Janata Party won nine while Communist Party of India (Marxist) managed to bag one ward. 

In the polls held Tuesday, both the BJP and the Congress had fielded 34 candidates each while the CPI(M) had put up four candidates.

At least 20 women candidates won from different wards, according state election commission data.

With Thursday’s landslide victory, Congress regains control over the civic body after over 10 years. The corporation had been a Congress bastion from 1986 (when the first election took place) to 2012.  

The election—a litmus test for the newly-formed Sukhu government—is being seen as a big boost to the Congress and a blow to BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In December 2022, the party had won 40 out of 68 assembly seats in the state polls.

Chief minister Sukhu termed the win as “a victory of people of Shimla and Congress workers”. “Despite the BJP campaign to malign the state government, people reposed their faith in Congress. Shimla municipal corporation is mini-Himachal,” he said addressing a press conference after the win.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also tweeted congratulating the party for the victory. 

BJP’s newly-appointed state president Dr. Rajeev Bindal said, “BJP accepts the people’s mandate. But it does not mean that Congress could carry on its anti people agenda. People of Himachal will understand it soon.” 

A senior BJP leader, who did not wished to be named, said, “We were hoping for a good contest. First round of 7 wards went almost well but we lost several wards one after another. We had never imagined losing Sanjauli chowk, where we had fielded a former mayor.” 

“We have lost three elections. First, we lost the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three state assembly bypolls in 2021 [to Congress]. Then we lost state assembly elections by a thin vote margin. Now we are reduced to 9 seats in Shimla MC. The party needs to introspect. Workers are working hard, leaders are doing well then where lies the gap,” another senior party leader who lost the assembly elections told ThePrint, on condition of anonymity. 

A political analyst M.P.S. Rana said this victory was much-needed for Sukhu. “Sukhu did not become CM so easily. There was resistance from Virbhadra Singh’s group, which now is led by his wife and Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Mandi MP Pratibha Singh,” he said.

Pratibha Singh also termed Thursday’s win as “a victory of people and of Congress’s ideology”.

A local resident and a street vendor Lakhdeep Singh said, “BJP government did so much for Shimla… But now people have hopes with the Congress government… Hopes from Congress weighed heavier than that of BJP’s achievements.” 

The BJP had won the civic polls for the first time in 2017. In 2012, when direct mayoral polls were held, CPI(M)’s Sanjay Chauhan and Tikender Panwar were elected as mayor and deputy mayor.

The BJP deputed union minister and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur, former ministers, central leaders and other workers for the elections, while the stakes were high for Congress as state party in-charge Rajiv Shukla himself was observing the developments. 

The term of the BJP-led corporation got over in May 2022 but the election could not be held due to litigation over the delimitation order—increasing the number of wards from 36 to 41—issued by the BJP government that year.

A third BJP leader, requesting anonymity, told ThePrint, “Had the previous government conducted elections on time, BJP would have won.”

(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)


Also Read: Taking 20-yr-old Alto to assembly, meeting public on morning walks, Himachal’s Sukhu is ‘common man’s CM’


 

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