Shimla: The Congress has won the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and has taken over the government. Today, party MLAs are meeting to choose who will be the Chief Minister. However, there has been a ruckus within the party as many people have expressed interest in becoming the Chief Minister.
Elections to 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh were held in a single phase on November 12. Since the counting of votes started yesterday morning, both the BJP and the Congress have alternated and taken the lead. In the end, the Congress won 40 seats and came to power. BJP candidates won in 25 constituencies and independents in 3 constituencies. Senior BJP leader and chief minister Jairam Thakur won the Seraj constituency by securing 52,076 votes. Congress candidate Seth Ram got 15,069 votes. Accepting the election defeat, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur met the state governor Arlekar yesterday and submitted his resignation letter.
In this case, a meeting of MLAs will be held at the Himachal Congress Party headquarters at 3:00 PM today. The meeting is being held in the presence of Himachal Congress in-charge Rajiv Shukla, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bagal and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda. Congress state president Pradeepa Singh will preside. Earlier it was planned to take the MLAs to Chandigarh. But it was abandoned and now the MLAs are in Shimla.
Sukhwinder Singh Sugu, Pradeepa Singh and Mukesh Agnihotri are in the running for chief ministership. Lok Sabha MP among them. Pradeepa Singh is important. She is the wife of Himachal Congress chief Virbhadra Singh, who was the state’s long-time Chief Minister. Virbhadra Singh disappeared last year. However, his wife Pradeepa Singh has solid support within the party. It is noteworthy that Pradeepa Himachal contributed a lot in the Congress campaign even though she is now a Lok Sabha MP. So it is said that he has more chances as the Chief Minister.
Vikramaditya Singh, who won Pradeepa Singh’s seat earlier in the Shimla rural constituency, said, “As a son, it is natural that I want Pradeepa Singh to become the Chief Minister. But as a responsible member of the party, I will accept whatever decision the party takes. I am sure the party will take a decision according to the will of the people.”
In this case, Pradeepa Singh has said in an interview to a private television that she can definitely perform well as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.