Shimla, Aug 10 (PTI) Congress leader Pratibha Singh on Sunday said the victory margins of all four BJP contenders from Himachal Pradesh in the 2019 general election was unprecedented and had raised doubts as such.
Her remarks come against the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's purported exposé of duplicitous voting in Bengaluru during the Karnataka Assembly polls and his subsequent accusations against the Election Commission of batting for the BJP.
"We had never seen such a landslide victory in Himachal Pradesh before 2019, and such large margins have raised doubts that something is wrong," Pratibha Singh, the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief, told reporters.
The vote margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha election between the winners and the Congress contenders ranged between 3.27 lakh and 4.77 lakh.
Pratibha Singh who has represented Mandi parliamentary seat in Himachal Pradesh thrice – 2004-09, 2013-14, and 2021-24 —, said, "I have represented Mandi seat and I know how much vote bank can increase and decrease and when a new face with no political connection wins with a large margin in 2024, questions are raised."
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut defeated the sitting state Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, Pratibha's son, by 74,755 votes for the Mandi seat.
Pratibha Singh said that the margins of victory have increased manifold and the results are against the exit polls, media reports, and politicians' expectations.
"Leaders from all the states have shared similar apprehensions during the meeting of Congress leaders, and we will take these facts to the public," she said.