As Congress is set to win the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, the party has asked all of its winning MLAs to travel to Chandigarh in Punjab to avoid the probability of poaching. The party has instructed the winning MLAs to leave for Chandigarh once they have received their certifications from the Election Commission officials.
According to the reports, the party wants its MLAs to be in one place for a meeting to discuss their future course of action. The instructions also come amid allegations about poaching as the BJP and Congress slug it out in the state.
Reportedly the party has booked a five star hotel in Mohali for the newly elected MLAs, and they have been asked to reach Chandigarh as soon as possible. In Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda will hold a meeting with the MLAs to decide the future course of action, including selecting the leader of the legislative party.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Congress party was planning to move its winning candidates from Himachal to Rajasthan, which is ruled by the party. It was reported that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda have been given the task of shifting MLAs to Rajasthan to pre-empt ‘Operation Lotus’ by BJP. However, now the party has asked its winning candidates in Himachal to move to Chandigarh instead. As the party is set to win a comfortable majority, it does not fear poaching by BJP, and therefore there is no immediate plan to shift the MLAs to Congress-ruled Rajasthan or Chattishgarh.
The Congress party has already won 15 seats and is leading with 24 seats, totalling 39, and is set to comfortably cross the halfway mark in the 68-member house. Meanwhile, the BJP is leading in 26 seats of which the party has already won 13. Independent candidates are leading in 3 seats and might play a critical role in the establishment of a government if the difference between Congress and BJP narrows down from the current position.
The Congress managed to overcome the BJP in the contest already after two hours of tallying. A breakdown of the total votes suggests that Congress has captured 43.9 percent of the vote share, compared to the BJP’s 43 percent.
Reports mention that the winning candidates have been asked to relocate to Chandigarh while senior party leaders Rajiv Shukla and Bhupesh Baghel are on their way to the hill state. The party fears so-called poaching attempts by the BJP after the results are declared, and it does not want to take any chances.
To note, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has won the Seraj seat in Mandi by a margin of 37,007 votes in the first round of results. Thakur received 33,256 votes (76.97 percent) of the votes, while his rival Chet Ram of Congress received 8,956 votes (20.73 percent). While all exit polls predicted a close fight between Congress and BJP, the results of all exit polls handed the advantage to the saffron party and projected BJP’s return to power in Himachal Pradesh.
However, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur acknowledged the party’s defeat in the state saying that he respected the people’s decision. He claimed that he would be going to the governor’s office soon to hand in his resignation.
