Amid bumper voting by women in HP, both Cong & BJP confident of victory

Shimla: Even as a majority of the exit polls predict a clean sweep for the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is confident of proving the pollsters wrong, at least in Shimla and Mandi seats, when the results are declared on Tuesday.
The ruling Congress party in the state is also hoping to retain all the six assembly seats that went to the bypolls. The results, therefore, will not only seal the fate of the candidates in the fray, but will also decide on the future of chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and leader of opposition Jai Ram Thakur.The women voters are likely to make a big impact in the results as they outnumbered their male counterparts in the polling for the Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur Lok Sabha seats, and all the six assembly segments.

Even as Sukhu govt needs just one seat to attain absolute majority in the 68-member Himachal assembly, the party would like to win a majority of the seats in the contest. The BJP, on the other hand, is eyeing all the six seats to increase its tally to 31 MLAs.
Sukhu, during campaigning, tried to corner the rebel Congress leaders fighting the bypolls on the BJP tickets by labeling them as “bikau (sold out)”. He also accused the saffron party of using “money power” to “destabilise” his govt. The BJP, though, hit back claiming that the Congress govt failed to fulfil the promises made during the 2022 assembly elections and closed down various institutions opened under the Jai Ram Thakur regime.