Failing to learn their lessons despite the worst ever defeat of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, the state leaders are targeting each other for the poor show.
Differences between former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and former state Congress president Sukhvinder Sukhu again resurfaced after the party's defeat in which it trailed in all the assembly segments of the state for the first time.
After Arki MLA Virbhadra Singh said that Sukhu should have been changed much earlier for better results, the former state Congress chief, who is the Nadaun MLA, said, "This is not the time for blaming others for political motives."
In a press statement, Sukhu, without naming Virbhadra Singh, said, "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones on others (sheeshe ke gharo mei rehne waale doosro par pathar nahin fenkte)." Sukhu said, "Instead of levelling allegations and counter allegations against each other, this is the time to go ahead unitedly."
He also thanked the Congress workers for their work during the elections. "There is no need to get disappointed with the election results. We should learn from the results. Time keeps on changing. One emerges victorious after defeat," he told the workers.
Virbhadra Singh had earlier said all was not well within the organisation for long.
Had the party president been changed earlier and good people included in the organisation, the Congress would have not been defeated like this (agar pradhan ko pehle badal diya jaata aur achche logo ko sangathan mei shamil kar liya jaata to is kadar party ki haar nahi hoti)," he had said.
Kuldeep Singh Rathore had replaced Sukhu as the state Congress president a month before the declaration of the poll schedule.
The ruling BJP Thursday swept the Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh, winning each of the four seats with a record margin of over 3.25 lakh votes. The BJP secured 69.11 per cent of the polled votes.
OVER 33000 VOTERS OPTED FOR NOTA IN HIMACHAL
Over 33,000 none of the above (NOTA) votes were polled in Himachal Pradesh, where the ruling BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections winning all four seats in the state.
The saffron party won Mandi, Shimla, Hamirpur and Kangra with record margins of about four lakh votes in each of the constituencies.
As many as 33,008 voters chose the NOTA option. In this way, 0.87 per cent voters opted for NOTA out of the total 38,01, 793 votes polled in the state on May 19, an election official said. Besides, 8,208 (0.22 per cent) votes were rejected for the four Lok Sabha seats of the hill-state, he added.
The highest 11,327 voters chose NOTA in Kangra, followed by 8,357 in Shimla, 8,026 in Hamirpur and 5,298 in Mandi, the official said. He said a total of 29,032 voters (0.9 per cent) had opted for NOTA in the 2014 parliamentary elections.
The highest 3,322 votes were rejected in Hamirpur, followed by 2,567 in Kangra, 1,777 in Mandi and 1,542 in Shimla.
He said as electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used for general voters, there was no chance to get votes rejected. But, the votes of the soldiers, generally known as service voters, and those of the poll staff, who use ballot papers to exercise their franchise, may be rejected if not properly cast, the official added.
Of the total 53,30,154 registered voters in the four constituencies, 68,028 (1.27 percent) are service voters.
The highest service voters 24,245 are in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, followed by 21,836 in Kangra, 13,474 in Mandi and 8,473 in Shimla, a state electoral officer said.
the ballot papers had been electronically transmitted to record offices/units of service voters on May 3 itself with envelopes to ensure their voting. Subsequently, the service votes were required to reach the concerned Returning Officer before the start of the counting.
There were 46,000 employees deputed as polling staff and they were also eligible to use ballot papers in case they were on poll duty outside their respective parliamentary constituency.
