BJP's clear in Himachal by-election: Congress snatched all three assembly seats including Mandi Lok Sabha from BJP, CM Jairam said - lost due to inflation

Congress won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and all three assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. With this, the BJP running the government in the state was wiped out in the by-elections. In the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat, the BJP candidate came third. In Mandi parliamentary seat, Congress candidate and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh defeated BJP's retired Brigadier Khushal Singh by a margin of 8766 votes. Similarly, Sanjay Awasthi of Congress won the Arki assembly seat, Rohit Thakur of Jubbal-Kotkhai seat and Bhawani Singh Pathania of Congress won the Fatehpur seat.

Voting was held on October 30 during the by-elections to these four seats and the counting of votes took place on Monday. Before the by-elections, Mandi Lok Sabha seat and Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly seat were with BJP, while Arki and Fatehpur assembly seats were with Congress.

Pratibha Singh defeated Kargil War Hero

In Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Congress candidate and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh defeated BJP candidate and Kargil War hero retired Brigadier Khushal Singh by a margin of 8766 votes. Pratibha Singh got a total of 3 lakh 65 thousand 650 votes and Brigadier Khushal Singh got 3 lakh 56 thousand 884 votes. Pratibha Singh was leading since morning in the counting of votes of Mandi parliamentary seat and by 9 o'clock he had made a lead of 3 thousand votes over BJP candidate, but at 9.30, BJP candidate Brigadier Khushal Singh was ahead by 4099 votes. Although he could not maintain his lead, then after half an hour he again reached the second number. After that Pratibha Singh continued to be ahead. Although his lead never reached the figure of 10 thousand. Till 1.26 PM Pratibha Singh was leading over BJP candidate in Mandi parliamentary seat by 8672 votes and after that, she was declared victorious by 8766 votes.

A total of 7 lakh 42 thousand 771 voters cast their votes in the Mandi parliamentary seat in the polling held on October 30. Out of these, Pratibha Singh of Congress got a total of 365650 votes. This was 49.23% of the total voting. Similarly, BJP candidate Khushal Singh got a total of 356884 votes which is 48.05% of the voting. In this way, Congress won here by taking 1.18% more votes than BJP. In the by-election to Mandi parliamentary seat, 12626 votes went to NOTA. Among other candidates Ambika Shyam got 3578 votes, Munshi Ram Thakur got 1211, Anil Kumar got 1079 and Subhash Mohan Snehi got 1743 votes.

Sanjay Awasthi was at number one in Arki before morning

In the Arki assembly seat, Sanjay Awasthi of Congress defeated Ratan Singh Pal of BJP by 3219 votes. Here Sanjay Awasthi took the lead as the counting of votes started at 8 is and remained at number one till the end. A total of 60550 votes were cast in the Arki seat in the polling held on October 30 and Sanjay Awasthi of Congress got 30798 votes out of this. Ratan Singh Pal of BJP, who came second, got 27579 votes. Apart from these two, Jeetram got 547 votes and NOTA got 1626 votes. Sanjay Awasthi was leading by 3922 votes till 11.26 pm, 4373 votes till 12.38 pm, and 5047 votes till 1.28 pm during the counting of votes. In the last round, the BJP candidate got more votes but could not surpass Sanjay Awasthi's lead and lost by 3219 votes.

In Jubbal-Kotkhai, BJP had to cut the ticket of Bragata

In the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat, since morning, the contest was between Rohit Thakur of Congress and Chetan Bragta, an independent contesting from BJP, rebel. Here Rohit Thakur defeated Bragta by 6293 votes. A total of 56607 people voted on October 30 in the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat during the by-election. Out of this Rohit Thakur got 29955 votes. Chetan Singh Bragta, the son of former BJP minister Narendra Bragta and an independent contestant, came second. He got 23662 votes. Although Bragta was leading by 4231 votes till 10.37 am during the counting of votes, he could not maintain the lead and after 11.15 pm Rohit Thakur came at number one and after that, his lead continued to increase. At 1.28 pm Rohit Thakur took the lead of 6293 votes and was declared the winner.

In the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat, the BJP had given a ticket to Neelam Saraik in place of Chetan Bragta, who never appeared in the contest. Neelam, who was at number three since morning, got only 2644 votes. Apart from him, Suman Kadam got 170 votes and NOTA got 176 votes.

In Fatehpur, Pathania defeated Thakur by 5789 votes.

Congress's Bhawani Singh Pathania and BJP candidate Baldev Thakur had a close fight in the Fatehpur assembly seat before the last one and a half hours and after that Pathania won by 5789 votes. People had voted. Out of this, Bhawani Singh Pathania of Congress won by taking 24449 votes. BJP's Baldev Thakur, who came second, got 18660 votes. Apart from these two, Dr. Rajan Sushant got 12927, Pankaj Kumar Darshi got 375 votes, Dr. Ashok Kumar Somal got 295 and NOTA got 389 votes.

During the counting of votes in the Fatehpur assembly seat, sometimes Bhawani Singh Pathania and sometimes Baldev Thakur remained at number one. Bhawani Singh Pathania of Congress went ahead as soon as the counting of votes started here at 8 is, but at 10.37, BJP again came at number one. After being at number two for almost two hours, Bhawani Singh Pathania of Congress once again reached number one at 12.38 pm. For the first time after 1 o'clock, the difference of votes between the two parties crossed one thousand. After that Pathania's lead went on increasing and he won by 5789 votes.

won't be able to take out a procession

The Election Commission has clarified that no political party will be allowed to take out victory processions after the counting of votes is over. Even after taking the election certificate from the Returning Officer after the result, only two people will be able to stay with the winning candidate. Himachal Chief Electoral Officer C. Palrasu said that the counting of votes is going on peacefully at all the centers. EVM and VVPAT slips of 5-5 polling stations of each assembly constituency are being matched.