Confident of getting majority in Himachal Assembly polls, Congress is preparing to protect the MLAS, who will be elected, from poaching as the party has deputed senior leaders to keep the flock together. It has also made a plan to shift the MLAS to Rajasthan.
Counting of votes polled in Himachal and Gujarat Assembly elections will be taken up on Thursday.
Sources say that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is personally monitoring the situation and has drafted Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the purpose.
Rejecting the exit polls which says that there is tough fight between the BJP and the Congress, Congress leader Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has claimed that the party will be sweeping Himachal Pradesh.
In a departure from electoral history, incumbent ruling BJP looks all set to remain in power in Himachal Pradesh for another five years. This was revealed by an IANS analysis of ABP-CVoter Exit Poll with a sample size of 28,697 across 68 Assembly constituencies in the state.
According to the IANS analysis of exit poll numbers, the BJP is likely to win between 33 and 41 seats in the 68-seat Assembly where the majority mark is 35. In contrast, the main opposition Congress appears likely to win between 24 and 32 seats.
If the numbers hold good, this will be the first time in decades that an incumbent regime will not be voted out after serving five years during an Assembly election.
While Axis My India – TVTN Exit Poll has predicted an edge for the Congress with 30-40 seats. Himachal Pradesh, which went for a single-phase poll on November 12, recorded a voter turnout of 74.6 per cent across a total of 68 constituencies.
Axis My India – TVTN Exit Poll has further forecast BJP to secure 24-34 seats and others (BSP, RDP, CPM/CPI and IND) to secure 4-8 seat share respectively. AAP is expected to get nil seats in the hill state.