Congress is poised to return to power by defeating the incumbent BJP in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls. The grand old party has crossed the half-way mark of 35 in the 68-member Assembly. The voters of the hill state have maintained it’s ‘Rivaaj’ ( of electing alternate governments) since 1985 and booted out the ‘Raj’ (BJP to retain the power).

The saffron party had given the ‘Raj nahin, riwaaj badlega’, however, it failed to influence the voters. As the counting for Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections began on Thursday morning, the BJP took an early lead but Congress pushed the saffron party to second position after an hour of counting. The latest results and trends show that the Congress won 39 seats and was leading in 1 seat.

The incumbent Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has conceded the defeat as BJP managed to win only 18 seats and was leading in seven other seats. The Himachal Pradesh polls proved to be a damp squib as it failed to open its account despite fielding candidates in 67 seats. The Chief Minister said he respects the mandate of the people and submitted his resignation to the governor.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi thanked the people of hill state for giving a resounding victory to his party. He assured them that the party will fulfill the electoral promises made to them. The Congress had made bringing back of the old pension scheme (OPS) and employment to the youth as its major poll plank. Rajiv Shukla, AICC in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, said the party will fulfill all the 10 guarantees it made to the electorate of the state.

हिमाचल प्रदेश की जनता को इस निर्णायक जीत के लिए दिल से धन्यवाद।

सभी कांग्रेस कार्यकर्ताओं और नेताओं को हार्दिक बधाई। आपका परिश्रम और समर्पण इस विजय की शुभकामनाओं का असली हकदार है।

फिर से आश्वस्त करता हूं, जनता को किया हर वादा जल्द से जल्द निभाएंगे।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 8, 2022

“The newly-elected Congress MLAs would meet in Chandigarh post-election results and decide on electing the new legislature party leader,” Rajeev Shukla.

"मुझे इस जीत की बहुत खुशी है लेकिन अभी हमें लंबा सफ़र तय करना है"

हिमाचल प्रदेश में हुए विधानसभा चुनाव में कांग्रेस की प्रचंड जीत के बाद पार्टी अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge जी का वक्तव्य -#विजयी_हिमाचल_विजयी_कांग्रेस pic.twitter.com/LA95v2uQD5
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 8, 2022