Shimla, June 5 (PTI) Eight out of 11 ministers, including Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in Himachal Pradesh's Congress government failed to secure a lead for the party's Lok Sabha candidates in their own assembly segments.

The BJP won all the four parliamentary seats in the state, even as the Congress improved its vote share from the 2019 election, registering a rise of 16.14 percentage points.

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Only three ministers, Mukesh Agnihotri, Rohit Thakur and Jagat Singh Negi could get a lead for Congress candidates from their respective assembly segments of Haroli, Jubbaland Kotkhai and Kinnaur.

Of the six chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS), only one, Mohan Brakta, secured a lead for the Congress candidate in Rohru, which falls in the Shimla parliamentary seat.

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In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP was in power in the state, the party secured a lead in all the 68 assembly constituencies. However in 2024, it could get a lead in 61 out of 68 assembly segments.

State BJP Chief Rajiv Bindal said Sukhu failed to get a lead from his own home constituency of Nadaun and demanded his resignation on moral grounds as the BJP bagged all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state.

A veteran politician noted that Sukhu focused his campaign on the assembly by-elections, targeting "saleable" MLAs, winning four seats, of which three are in Hamirpur, but fell short in his own seat.

The vote share of BJP reduced from 69.71 per cent in 2019 Lok Sabha polls to 56.44 per cent in 2024, while Congress' vote share rose significantly from 23.53 per cent to 41.67 per cent, according to data from election department.

Despite winning four seats in the assembly by-elections, Congress struggled in the Lok Sabha polls, leading in only 7 out of 68 assembly segments.

Kangra saw heavy polling favouring the BJP largely due to two factors -- the Congress fielding an outsider, Anand Sharma, from the seat and discrimination in distributing cabinet portfolio.

The BJP led in all 17 assembly segments in Kangra parliament Constituency, with the highest lead of 22,762 votes in Kangra assembly segment.

In the Hamirpur seat, BJP led in 16 out of 17 segments, with Congress leading in Haroli by 1,535 votes, the home constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, but not in Nadaun, which is Sukhu's constituency. The BJP secured a lead margin of 2,143 votes in Nadaun.

BJP voters' apathy towards Congress rebels was evident in Hamirpur, where Anurag Thakur secured a significant lead, despite the saffron party losing in three out of four assembly by-elections, barring Barsar.

In the Barsar bypoll, the BJP won narrowly despite a significant lead in the Lok Sabha polls.

The slogan "ek vote PM ko aur ek vote CM ko" resonated in Hamirpur

In the Sujanpur assembly segment, the BJP's lead in Lok Sabha was 23,853 but its bypoll candidate Rajinder Rana lost by 2,440 votes.

Similarly in Gagret and Kutlehar , the BJP led by 10,944 and 7,819 votes in the Lok Sabha seat but its by-election candidates Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto lost by a margin of 8,487 votes and 5,356 votes.

In the Barsar assembly segment, where the BJP candidate, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal won by 2,125 votes, the lead in the Lok Sabha polls was 16,184.

The Congress gained leads in Anni, Rampur, Lahaul and Spiti, and Kinnaur assembly segments which fall under the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, partly due to resentment over BJP nominee Kangana Ranaut's remarks on Tibetan siritual leader Dalai Lama in April last year.

Ranaut's controversial post on X featuring the Dalai Lama caused uproar among Buddhists in the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti and people ended up supporting the Congress in the elections.

The Bollywood actor had later apologised saying she did not mean to hurt anyone through her post but she was shown black flags by people in Kaza during her election campaign.

Rampur and Anni are the stronghold of Vikramaditya Singh, scion of erstwhile Rampur state and Congress's candidate for Mandi Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress was hoping to win the Shimla parliamentary seat, where the party has 13 out of 17 MLAs, but it got a jolt despite significant representation in the assemby with five ministers and one CPS.

The party also had the open support of the Samyukt Kisan Manch (SKM) for Shimla seat but managed to lead in only in two assembly segments -- Jubbal and Kotkhai represented by Education Minister Rohit Thakur and Rohru assembly seat, another stronghold of Vikramaditya Singh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)