Shimla,
It was mixed bag for ruling Congress and the BJP in Shimla district which won four and three seats, respectively, while the CPM created a history by winning the Theog seat in the heart of the district.

As expected, the Congress candidates Nand Lal and Mohan Lal Brakta retained the Rampur and Rohroo reserved seats, both strongholds of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh but with reduced margin. Sitting MLA Mohan Lal Brakta of Congress won with the highest margin of 9,408 defeating Shashi Bala of the BJP while in Rampur constituency, Nand Lal, sitting MLA of the Congress, who polled 25,730 votes, defeated Prem Singh Draik by 4,037 votes.

The laxity of the Congress government in Kotkhai minor rape and murder case and the subsequent custodial death case cast its shadow on Jubbal Kotkhai and the adjoining Chopal and Theog constituencies and former BJP minister Narinder Bragata avenged his 2012 defeat and humbled Rohit Thakur of the Congress in Jubbal Kotkhai by 1,064 votes.

Balbir Singh Verma, who was elected as an independent from Chopal in 2012 and joined the BJP on the eve the Assembly polls, retained his seat with a margin of 4,587 votes while the Theog seat was won by CPM candidate Rakesh Singha, who defeated three-time MLA Rakesh Verma of BJP with a margin of 1,983 votes, while the Congress candidate Deepak Rathore finished a poor third.

The legacy of Vidya Stokes, an eight-time MLA, whose nomination papers were rejected, has been grabbed by Singha, who had earlier won from Shimla in the 1993 elections.

In a four-cornered contest, three-time MLA, Suresh Bharadwaj of the BJP also retained the prestigious Shimla seat defeating Congress rebel Harish Janartha who contested as independent by 1,903 votes while CPM and Congress candidate Sanjay Chauhan and Harbhajan Singh Bhaji stood at third and fourth place polling 3047 and 2680 votes, respectively.

Anirudh Singh of the Congress retained the Kasumpti seat and defeated his nearest Rival Vijay Jyoti Sen of the BJP with a margin of 9,397 while Chief Minister’s son Vikramaditya Singh who made his political debut from Shimla Rural constituency was victorious defeating BJP Pramood Sharma by 4,880 votes.

It was nail-biting finish in tribal Kinnaur constituency where sitting member and Deputy Speaker Jagat Singh Negi retained the seat by defeating Tejwant Negi of the BJP by slender margin of 120 votes.