New Delhi: The Congress’s victory in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections was characterised by victories with fine margins in several constituencies, none more so than the Bhoranj seat, where the Congress candidate Suresh Kumar defeated Anil Dhiman of the BJP by just 60 votes.The results announced on Thursday, December 8, showed that the hill state maintained its ‘rivaaz‘ of voting the incumbent government out of power in every election since 1985. The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member house, while the BJP bagged 25. Independent candidates won the remaining three seats.Although the scenario was not as dramatic in other seats, the Congress party’s candidates in 15 of the 40 seats it won had a wafer-thin victory margin of less than 2,000. The difference in the number of votes received by the candidates of the two parties in Bhoranj, Sujanpur, Darang, Bilaspur, Sri Naina Devi, Rampur, Shillai, and Sri Renukaji was less than 1,000 votes.The slim margins were also evident in the fact that though the Congress bagged 15 seats more than the BJP, the difference in the vote share was only 0.90%. The Congress bagged 18,52,504 (43.9%) of the votes that were polled, while the BJP got 18,14,530 (43%) – meaning 15 seats were swung by a difference of just 37,974 votes. This is lower than the victory margin of the outgoing chief minister Jairam Thakur, who won by 38,183 votes from Seraj in Mandi district.The BJP and the Congress contested all 68 constituencies, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded its candidates in 67 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 53 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 11 seats.The AAP failed to open its account and the CPI-M also did not win any seat – its sitting MLA from Theog also lost.The AAP received 1.10% votes, the CPI-M 0.66%, the BSP 0.35%, and independent candidates and others got 10.39%, while 0.59% chose NOTA.In the 2017 state elections, the BJP had won 44 seats, the Congress 21, the CPI(M) one and independent candidates two. The BJP had then got 48.8% votes, the Congress 41.7%, independent candidates 6.3% and the CPI(M) had got 1.5%, while NOTA attracted 0.9% votes.BJP national president J.P. Nadda along with Union minister Anurag Thakur, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur and others release the BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, in Shimla, November 6, 2022. Photo: PTIDid rebels play spoilsport?According to news agency PTI, rebels played a spoilsport for both the BJP and Congress in 12 segments. The rebels, who contested as independents in the assembly polls, marred the prospects of BJP candidates in eight seats while Congress candidates were hit in four assembly segments.Out of the total 99 independents who were in the fray, 28 were rebels. All the three independent candidates who won – K.L. Thakur from Nalagarh, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur – were BJP rebels who were denied party tickets.Thakur had won in 2012 but lost in 2017 and the BJP chose to field Lakhwinder Singh Rana, a two-term Congress MLA, who jumped ship ahead of the elections.Singh, sitting independent MLA from Dehra had joined the BJP on the eve of assembly elections but the party gave ticket to Ramesh Dhawala while Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur was also a BJP rebel.The rebels spoiled the prospects of the BJP in Kinnaur, Kullu, Banjar, Indora and Dharamshala, while the chances of the Congress candidates were hampered in Pachhad, Chopal, Anni and Sulah.In Kinnaur, former BJP MLA Tejwant Negi who contested independently secured 19.25% of the votes (8,574), which was more than the winning margin (6,964) of the Congress candidate Jagat Singh Negi and became instrumental in the defeat of BJP’s candidate Surat Negi.BJP rebel Ram Singh polled 16.77% (11,937 votes), while the BJP candidate Narotam Singh conceded defeat to Congress candidate Surender Thakur by 4,103 votes.The scenario was no different in Kullu, where Hiteshwar Singh, son of the BJP leader Maheshwar Singh got 24.12% of the vote (14,568) ensuring defeat of BJP candidate Khimi Ram by 4,334 votes.In Dharamshala, BJP rebel Vipan Neheria polled 12.36% of the vote (7,416) which was more than the winning margin (3,285) of Congress candidate Sudhir Sharma.In Sullah and Anni, the contest was between BJP and Congress rebels and the Congress official candidates stood third.In Pachhad and Chopal, Congress rebels Gangu Ram Musafir and Subash Manglet secured 21.46% and 22.03% of the votes, which was 2-3 times more than the winning margin of BJP candidates.Independent MLAs played kingmakers in pastIn the larger scheme, the victory of the independent candidates was insignificant as Congress got a clear mandate, winning 40 out of 68 seats. But in some elections in the past, independent MLAs played a significant role in the state.In 1982, the Congress won 31 of the 68 seats in 1982 and formed the government with the help of independent MLAs. The BJP and Janata Party won 29 and two seats, respectively, and independent MLAs bagged six seats in that election. BJP leader Shanta Kumar went to the Raj Bhavan to stake his claim to form the government after two Janata Party members assured their support. But both of them failed to turn up. Instead, four independent MLAs extended support to the Congress.In 1998, the lone independent member Romesh Dhawala held the balance, supporting first the Congress and then the BJP-Haryana Vikas Congress alliance. Ultimately, a BJP-led government was sworn in.