The Modi wave sweeping across much of India had no cover left for the Congress in Himachal Pradesh where it lost all four seats, leaving Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a crisis.
Not only did the BJP win all four seats in the State but also won Sujjanpur Tira Assembly segment, the bye-election for which was held along with the Parliamentary poll, to make the rout complete for the ruling party in the State.
In Kangra old guard, BJP leader Shanta Kumar won by over 1.7 lakh vote margin, in Shimla sitting MP Virender Kashyap overcame anti-incumbency to retain the seat by a margin of over 73 thousand votes and in Hamirpur two-time MP Anurag Thakur won by over 83 thousand votes.
What has come as a shock to the 17-month-old Virbhadra Government, Mandi was that despite a Cabinet of 11 Ministers, Congress did not have a lead in any Assembly segment over BJP, which included Shimla rural seat represented by the Chief Minister himself.
less than a year ago, Pratibha Singh had only won the Mandi seat in a bye-election by a margin of over 1.3 lakh votes. On being elected Chief Minister, the seat had been vacated by her husband Virbhadra Singh. Greenhorn Ram Swaroop Sharma was being considered a weak BJP candidate as the party took a lot of time to announce a candidate for the seat.