HP: Results for 10 districts declared; Cong, BJP claim victory

Results of 184Zila Parishad wards and 1,280 Panchayat Samiti wards of 10 districts that went to polls in Himachal were declared today, with the BJP and Congress claiming massive victory in the panchayat elections.
According to the sources, the Congress has an upper hand in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts, while BJP has an edge in Kinnaur, Hamirpur, Una and Kullu districts.
The position will be clear in the next three to four days.
However, the BJP and the Congress are making claims that they have won most seats.
The elections were not contested on party symbols, but both the parties had identified their candidates for Zila Parishad polls and are claiming to have won 75 per cent seats.

The Congress claimed that it would be able to install its chairpersons at Zila Parishads in most of the districts, while the party will do well in elections of Panchayat Samiti chairpersons.
The CPI(M) also made a dent in Congress bastion in Shimla district, winning from two Zila parishad wards.
The Panchayats polls in Kangra district would be held on January 10 and 12, while 52 urban local bodies including 29 municipal councils and 23 Nagar Panchayats would also go to polls in a single phase on January 10.