BJP registers historical win in HP with victory margins crossing 4.75 lakh & vote share 70 %

The ruling BJP Thursday made clean sweep in Himachal Pradesh with its candidates winning all the four Lok Sabha seats -- Shimla, Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur -- in the hill state with record margins in the range of over three lakh votes each and securing up to 72 percent of the polled vote share.

The four victorious BJP candidates included sitting MPs, Anurag Thakur and Ram Swaroop Sharma, who won Hamirpur and Mandi Lok Sabha seats respectively.

The two other victorious candidates included two party MLAs Suresh Kashyap and Kishan Kapoor, who bagged Shimla and Kangra seats respectively.

All four won their respective seats with record margins in the range of three lakh votes each, making their victories historical.

The three-term MP and son of former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Anurag Thakur retained his Hamirpur seat, defeating his nearest rival Ram Lal Thakur of Congress with a record margin of 3,99,572 votes.

Anurag Thakur, also a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) polled 6,82,692 votes against 2,83,120, secured by his rival Ram Lal Thakur.

The polled vote share of the BJP in Hamirpur reached 69.04 per cent against the Congress' 28.63 per cent.

The BJP's sitting Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma too retained his seat, defeating his nearest rival Aashray Sharma of Congress by a margin of 4,05,459 votes.

Ram Swaroop Sharma, who had won from Mandi in 2014 by defeating former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh by 39,856 votes, retained the seat this time by defeating former Union Minister Sukh Ram's grandson Aashray Sharma, who could get only 2,41,730 votes against 6,47,189 votes secured by the sitting MP.

The polled vote share of the BJP in Mandi reached 68.75 per cent against the Congress' 25.68 percent.

BJP MLA Suresh Kashyap from Pachhad won the Shimla seat defeating Dhani Ram Shandil by a margin of 3,27,515 votes. While Kashyap polled 6,06,183 votes, Shandil managed to secure only 2,78,668. All other four candidates of the Shimla seat lost their deposits.

The Shimla seat had been won by Virender Kashyap of the BJP in 2014, when he had defeated Mohan Lal Brakata of the Congress by 84,198 votes. The BJP, however, dropped him this time to field Suresh Kashyap.

The polled vote share of the BJP in Shimla reached 66.35 per cent against the Congress' 28.63 per cent.

BJP's Dharamshala MLA Kishan Kapoor won the Kangra seat defeating Pawan Kajal of Congress by a margin of 4,77,623 votes. Kapoor polled 7,25,218 votes, while Kajal managed to get 2,47,595 votes.

In 2014, former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar had won Kangra seat, defeating Chander Kumar of the Congress by a margin of 1,70,072 votes.

But the BJP had chosen to filed HP's Cabinet minister Kishan Kapoor this time.

The polled vote share of the BJP in Kangra touched 72.02 per cent against the Congress' 24.59 per cent.

Incidentally, a total of 33,008 electors in the state pressed the EVM's NOTA (none of the above) button, casting their votes in favour of the none of the candidates.

In numbers of electors who pressed NOTA buttons stood at 5,298 in mandi, 8,026 in Hamirpur, 11,327 in Kangra and 8,357 in Shimla.

Elated over the BJP's clean sweep in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah for the massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections.

"It is for the first time in the history of the state that BJP candidates have won with such a huge margin in all the parliamentary seats," said Chief Minister Thakur in a statement.

The chief minister also expressed gratitude to the voters of the state for reposing their faith in the party and Prime Minister Modi.

He also thanked them for giving the BJP lead for the first time in all the 68 assembly segments in the state.

The elections result is a referendum on the policies and programmes of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state, he added.

In his congratulatory message to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, CM Thakur said, "It is a mandate for a strong and vibrant India which is only possible under the dynamic leadership of Narendra Modi."