There are a total of 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh and 35 seats are needed for a majority. The Congress has achieved the majority mark and is ahead in 40 seats. While winning 18 seats, BJP is ahead on 25. Three independents have won the elections. It is clear from the results that the custom of changing the government after five years has worked this time as well. Jairam Thakur, leaving Chief Minister of the state, produced his resignation before the governor in the evening though he won his seat from Seraj.
BJP has been in power for five years and Congress for five years in the state assembly elections. There was a Congress government between 1982 and 1985. After this, the Congress government was again formed from 1985 to 1990 and Virbhadra Singh became the Chief Minister for the second time. Between 1990 and 1992, the BJP government was formed and Shanta Kumar was the CM. After this, the Congress government was again formed from 1993 to 1998 under the Chief Ministership of Virbhadra Singh. From 1998 to 2003 the BJP under the leadership of the then Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, from 2003 to 2007 the Congress under the leadership of Virbhadra, from 2007-2012 the BJP again under the leadership of Dhumal, from 2012-2017 the Congress led by Virbhadra Singh and at present from 2017 to 2022 The BJP government was formed under the leadership of Jairam Thakur.
Himachal Pradesh has about 2.25 lakh employees and 1.90 lakh pensioners. Government employees are demanding for the old pension scheme. The employees also gheraoed the Vidhan Sabha regarding this. But CM Jairam gave a statement that if pension is required then election workers should also contest elections. This enraged the employees and pensioners. Capitalizing on this issue, the Congress guaranteed the old pension scheme to be implemented after their first cabinet meeting if they came to power. This was announced by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi at the rally held in Solan. Apart from this, the issue of non-formulation of policy for outsourced and temporary employees was also important.
After the results, TDG spoke to Congress Senior Leader Pawan Khera and asked who would be the CM of Himachal, on this he said, “The Party high command would decide on this.” When asked if they were expecting such a result, he reiterated happily and added further, “ We were sure of this victory and we will bring a positive change in Himachal”.
Apart from the above issues, unemployment and inflation were also a big issue. Taking advantage of this, the Congress announced that on coming to power, it guaranteed five lakh jobs in five years and one lakh jobs in the first cabinet. Apart from this, promises like Rs 1500 per month to women, 300 units of free electricity to domestic consumers, opening of four English medium schools in every assembly constituency. Congress also redeemed the development works done by former CM Virbhadra Singh in this election.
In this election, 21 rebel leaders of BJP and seven of Congress were in the fray. This is also believed to be a major reason for the victory of the Congress. It is believed that two factions were running in the BJP during the elections. The infighting and rebels in the BJP benefited the Congress. The Dhumal group was getting angry due to being ignored. At the same time, the opposition kept making it an issue repeatedly by accusing CM Jairam of having a weak grip.
The state’s apple economy of Rs 5,000 crore is also being considered as a big issue in the elections.
