A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stunned Congress in the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, the saffron party, led by Jairam Thakur, met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla in Shimla and sought a floor test in the hill state.

The meeting comes amid a buzz over the BJP bringing a motion of no-confidence in the Assembly against the Congress government in the State.

The BJP’s win on the lone Rajya Sabha seat, where the Congress had a majority, was the result of cross-voting by Congress MLAs and a draw of lots that went in its favour. The BJP has managed a win despite having only 25 MLAs in the 68-member Assembly.

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The loss could be much bigger than just a blow to the Congress’s prestige as it is likely to face a test while passing the Budget on Wednesday, endangering the party’s government in Himachal Pradesh – one of only three states that it rules on its own.

As intense political manoeuvring got underway in Himachal Pradesh, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Jairam Thakur, along with party MLAs, met the Governor. According to media reports, the BJP demanded a floor test in the Himachal assembly, claiming that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu had lost the mandate to rule.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Governor, Jairam Thakur said, “BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan won the Rajya Sabha elections. Currently, the Congress government has lost the moral right to stay in power.”

“Congress is frustrated now… their government is in trouble not because of us but because of their own deeds,” Thakur told reporters after the meeting. “The Congress has lost the mandate is all I can say,” he added.

Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha election

In a stunning upset for the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday, the BJP emerged victorious. The ruling Congress had a clear majority with 40 out of the 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs. BJP has 25 MLAs in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

Despite a brute majority, the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan defeated Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi in a closely contested battle that ended in a tie, with both candidates securing 34 votes each, indicating significant cross-voting within the Congress ranks.

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The victory of the BJP candidate, with the support of six Congress lawmakers and three independents previously backing the government, has left Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu high and dry. The Congress high command has dispatched senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and D K Shivakumar to engage with the disgruntled MLAs.

The Rajya Sabha polls in three states on Tuesday witnessed a whirlwind of political drama as cross-voting shaped the outcome – solidifying the BJP’s standing ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and leaving the opposition INDIA bloc in a more precarious position than before.