Himachal election: After Delhi battering, Congress looks to save face, BJP to nose ahead

With the Congress making fewer changes, it is the BJP that fears the impact of rebels the most, and in days leading up to the results, both sides had started sending out feelers to them.

With victory margins likely to be narrow, both BJP and Congress will be keeping an eye on how Independents perform. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

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THE EXIT polls confirmed what has been the story of this Himachal Pradesh election – a neck-and-neck race between the BJP and Congress for the 68 seats in the state, with the Aam Aadmi Party’s challenge fizzling out as it diverted its energies to Gujarat.

Read | Congress faces an existential crisis in city that was once its bastion

On counting day, it might therefore come down to the rebels, many of whom entered the race from both sides after being denied tickets. With the Congress making fewer changes, it is the BJP that fears the impact of rebels the most, and in days leading up to the results, both sides had started sending out feelers to them.

Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur enjoying ‘golgappas’ at The Ridge in Shimla on Wednesday. (PTI)

A BJP win would make history, as Himachal Pradesh has never voted a party back to power again since the 1980s. A defeat would bust its confidence regarding digging itself out of any hole on the strength of Narendra Modi’s popularity. True to its style of campaigning, the BJP spared no big guns in its arsenal, even as the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were occupied with poll-bound Gujarat.

A Congress win would prove a life-saver for the party that was trounced in the civic poll results in Delhi on Wednesday, and which is set to perform worse than last time in Gujarat. A loss would be debilitating, with the nascent fissures in the Congress state unit set to rise to the surface again. Bharat Jodo Yatri Rahul Gandhi stayed away from the contest, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took up the reins too little, too late.

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