By IANS,
Shimla : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers set off firecrackers and danced to drums and trumpets on the famous Mall and Ridge in the Himachal Pradesh capital as the party Saturday won three out of the state’s four Lok Sabha seats.
In contrast, it was all quiet in the Congress office with only media persons waiting for the leaders to arrive.
The atmosphere in the town was of huge celebrations as a large number of BJP activists danced and lit an array of firecrackers at regular intervals.
Since early morning, a large number of people started gathering at the Scandal Point where the state information and public relations department had installed a big television set and online ticker to give information about the general election results.
As the results were announced one by one, the BJP activists distributed sweets, danced, burst crackers and raised anti-Congress slogans to celebrate the landslide victory of the party in the state.
Once it was clear that the BJP was heading to win in three seats, a large number of workers gathered outside the chief minister’s residence.
Addressing the party workers, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said: “This victory is my party’s victory. I want to thank our supporters and most of all the voters. We are going to work harder to live up to their expectations.”
He said the verdict had proved that there was no anti-incumbency.
“Their (Congress) claims have been proved wrong. People have voted for development,” he said.
“The party’s victory came as a major relief to all of us who have been glued to the television sets since the counting started,” said Virender Kashyap, the BJP candidate from Shimla, who won the seat for the first time for the party in his maiden electoral victory.
The Congress only managed one seat with former chief minister Virbhadra Singh winning the Mandi seat by a margin of over 13,000 votes.