High turnout and more transparency after demonetisation helped out a rare referendum in this assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh. An impressive turn out is seen when people came out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. As in the past minor violence and the usual voting machine start ups all caused some delay but overall it was a tough battle and we expect a turnaround in the fortunes of political parties. A high 75 per cent polling in hilly paradise of HP shows, the state is looking for development and prefers more tourists attraction with a party ruling the state with an absolute majority. Narendra Modi is fighting all alone for supremacy and despite all the opposition hopes to come out trumps. The ruling party in HP may lose the initiative because of heavy polling. It is time and to prove that Modi can match any challenge from in and outside to come out trumps in the hilly region. As Modi put it Congress ran out of the state and there is no definite challenge for the ruling party in the centre. Now the centre stage is on HP to take one more state in its kitty along with other run away successes in recent times.
Arati Abhishek
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
