Himachal election results: CM Jairam Thakur says will resign soon as Congress' lead extends

Himachal Pradesh CM and BJP leader Jairam Thakur said he'll tender his resignation to the Governor later on Thursday after the saffron party lost to Congress after a contest that was a cliifhanger for most part of the day.

While Congress is leading on 39 seats out of 68 and BJP is leading on 26.

Meanwhile, Thakur continues his lead from his constituency Seraj, with a margin of 38,183 votes.

"I respect people's mandate and I want to thank PM and other Central leadership during last 5 years. We'll stand for the development of the state irrespective of politics. We'll analyse our shortcoming and improve during the next term," said Thakur.

The hill state witnessed an intense campaign with BJP trying to return to power for a second consecutive term and Congress backing on its '10 guarantees' that the party listed out in its manifesto to take them home. The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as the third major political force in the state has intensified the electoral battle. Besides these three, parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP) are also in the fray.

Notably, in the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP formed the government by winning 44 seats while Congress secured 21 seats.

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