Himachal Pradesh election: Here is how rebel candidates thwarted BJP's bid to retain power

Even as Congress won Himachal Presh election, rebel candidates played a decisive role in scuttling BJP's chances of retaining power in state. 3 BJP rebels who were denied tickets and contested as Independents- Ashish Sharma, Hoshyar Singh and KL Thakur won from Hamirpur, Dehra and Nalagarh respectively. Moreover, Election Commission's data showed that rebels secured more votes than Congress' victory margin over BJP in 9 constituencies. While two of m were associated with Congress, rest belonged to BJP.

This essentially implies that BJP's prospects of potentially winning se seats would have increased manifold via better ticket distribution and winning over rebels. If 10 of se seats h gone to  saffron party's kitty, it could have formed government once again. At present, BJP is just 10 short of majority mark of 35 in 68-member Assembly whereas Congress candidates won in 40 constituencies. 

Seats where Congress defeated BJP: 

Congress wrests Himachal Presh 

In line with its trition of changing governments after every term since 1985, Himachal witnessed Congress wresting power from BJP.  state recorded its highest-ever vote share of 75.6% in Assembly elections held on November 12. This increased hopes in Congress camp considering that it also won  by-election to Assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai and Lok Sabha constituency of Mandi last year. fact that AAP also didn't up a spirited campaign implied that election turned out to be a bipolar contest between BJP and Congress.

Despite former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's absence from campaign, party managed to win a clear majority by bagging 40 out of 68 seats. On or hand, BJP was reduced to a mere 25 seats even as CM Jairam Thakur won from Seraj by 38,183 votes- highest victory margin for any candidate. Interestingly, vote share difference between Congress and BJP was only 0.90%. While AAP couldn't open its account, 3 Independents registered a victory. major upsets included defeat of 8 Ministers and 6-time Congress MLA Asha Kumari.