In another jolt to the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to win 5 out of the 6 seats in Himachal Assembly by poll. One seat is in a tight contest between the saffron party and grand old Congress, suggests Axis My India MD Pradeep Gupta.
"5 seats BJP likely to win, and [on] 1 seat, there is a good fight," Gupta said on India Today TV. This implies that the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led state government could fall in Himachal Pradesh.
Voting for the Himachal Assembly by polls took place on June 1 on six seats along with the Lok Sabha elections. The seats that went to vote in the by polls were Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Sujanpur, Barsar, Gagret, and Kutlehar.
Lahaul and Spiti saw a voter turnout of 73.72 per cent, Kutlehar 71.40 per cent, Gagret 68.28 per cent, Dharamshala 66.27 per cent, Sujanpur 63 per cent, and Barsar 50 per cent.
The seats, where by polls were held, were vacant after 6 Congress MLAs were disqualified from the Vidhan Sabha for defying a party whip to vote in favour of the Sukhu government during the budget. The Congress saw another challenge in Himachal Pradesh in February this year when the party's Rajya Sabha candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost to BJP's Harsh Mahajan due to cross-voting.
Furthermore, the India Today-Axis My India exit poll 2024 predicted that the BJP is looking at a clean sweep in the hilly state in the Lok Sabha elections as well. The exit poll states that the BJP is expected to win all 4 seats in the state.
Mandi, Kangra, Hamirpur and Shimla are the four Lok Sabha seats in the hill state. As per the survey, political novice Kangana Ranaut has an edge in Mandi over Congress' Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh.
Commenting on the assembly by election, Sukhu said these polls are not to either change the government or to form one. He added that the Congress has asked people to remain vigilant due to the attempts being made to "murder democracy, to topple an elected government through money, and grab power through money."
"This is people's election, people will have to win it," he further said. BJP president JP Nadda, on the other hand, said that the saffron party is winning all 4 Lok Sabha and 6 Assembly seats.
"The trends are in favour of the BJP all around to make 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' and 'Viksit Bharat'. BJP is winning on all 4 Lok Sabha seats and 6 Assembly seats (by poll) in Himachal Pradesh," Nadda said.