After the opposition-Congress managed to win in civic body polls in Palampur and Solan while the ruling BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mandi and Dharamshala, Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said that the result should not be seen as complete rout of the ruling party.

“The Congress is terming the result as complete rout of the ruling BJP which is not true. The BJP managed to emerge as the single largest party in Dharamshala MC which was earlier with the Congress,” the CM said while talking to the mediapersons about the MC results.The elections for the four civic bodies were held on the party symbols this time.In Dharamshala, the BJP won eight seats but fell one short of majority. There are 17 wards in Dharamshala civic body, of which independents won four seats and Congress five.

In the newly created Mandi MC, BJP won in 11 out of 15 wards while Congress won in the remaining four wards.

In Solan MC, Congress won in nine wards, the BJP in seven and an independent candidate in one ward. Congress won 11 out of 15 seats in Palampur while BJP and independent candidates won two seats each.Commenting on the poll results, the Chief Minister said that the MC election should not be seen as semi-final to the next year’s State Assembly polls. The BJP had since 2014 emerged as the single largest party in all major polls in the state, he said.

About the party's loss in Palampur and Solan MCs, Thakur said that the party would introspect the reasons for not performing well in both MCs and feedback of the party leaders and workers would also be sought in this regard.

When asked about the decision of creating new MCs of Solan, Mandi and Palampur and holding elections on party symbol, the CM  said that it was necessary to upgrade the townships for the purpose of development.