By IANS
Shimla : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was racing towards a landslide electoral victory in Himachal Pradesh Friday, just five days after it retained power in Gujarat.
As officials counted the 3.2 million votes polled in the assembly elections, the BJP was forging ahead in most of the 68 seats. Analysts and politicians said the party might end up winning around 45 seats.
The BJP was poised to reap a rich harvest, garnering a record vote share in the hill state where it has been one of the two dominant players for six decades.
Most of the BJP wins came in constituencies adjoining Punjab.
BJP candidates were on the winning track in 45 seats and the Congress in only 17. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which ate into Congress votes, as well as independents led in six seats.
BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal, who is expected to take office Sunday, said the electorate had turned against the Congress on account of shooting prices of essential commodities, unemployment and corruption.
Other BJP leaders warned of long-term political consequences.
“The win in Himachal Pradesh will fuel our resurgence at the national level,” BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
BJP general secretary Sushma Swaraj added that the Congress rout would push the country to early parliamentary polls. “The countdown for the general elections has begun,” she said.
A dejected Himachal Congress leader Vidya Stokes accepted defeat. “Anti-incumbency was working against us.”
Stokes, however, insisted that the Himachal verdict, which was widely expected, would not affect the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi.
The Himachal results would be another setback to the Congress morale as there are hardly 18 months left for fresh general elections. The Congress had won 43 seats in the 2003 state elections.
Also, the BJP win comes just five days after Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the party to a spectacular victory against great odds in Gujarat where the Congress had hoped to bounce back to power.
Thousands of officials began the vote count across 41 centres in the state Friday at 8 a.m. Polling for a new Himachal assembly took place in two phases, on Nov 14 and Dec 19.
A total of 336 candidates contested the elections. The Congress and BJP fielded candidates in all 68 seats. In 2003, the Congress won 43 seats and the BJP 16. Nine seats went to independents and smaller groups.