Congress wave helps party sweep Himachal Pradesh

A swing of 11.47 per cent in favour of Congress as compared to 1999 Lok Sabha polls helped the party wrest three out of four seats from BJP and HVC in Himachal Pradesh.

A swing of 11.47 per cent in favour of Congress as compared to 1999 Lok Sabha polls helped the party wrest three out of four seats from BJP and HVC in Himachal Pradesh while it lost the Hamirpur seat by a narrow margin of 1625 votes.

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The total lead of BJP-HVC combine in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls was 4,17,944 and it not only wiped out the lead, polling 51.89 per cent votes this time, but also recorded a combined lead of 1,90,922 votes in all four constituencies. Congress had polled 39.52 per cent votes in all four constituencies. Congress had polled 39.52 per cent votes in 1999.

The BJP had polled 46.27 per cent votes last time while its alliance partner HVC had secured 12.37 per cent, which came down to 44.24 per cent.

BJP had won the Kangra and Mandi seats by a massive margin of 1,00742 and 1,31,025 votes but lost these seats by a margin of 17791 and 66566 votes respectively. Even in Hamirpur the lead of the party had slumped from 1,29,247 to 1625.