BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal was trailing in Himachal Pradesh’s Sujanpur constituency, while the party looked set to wrest the state from the Congress – reminiscent of what happened in Jharkhand in 2014.

Three years back in Jharkhand, the NDA got past the halfway mark, getting 43 seats to form the government in the 81 seat assembly. BJP got 38 seats while its ally, AJSU, won in five assembly seats.

However, Arjun Munda, who was a three time chief minister and was the frontrunner for the chief ministerial post, lost to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s candidate in Kharsawan seat.

BJP seemed to be facing the same situation again in Himachal where it was likely to win 42 seats in the 68 member assembly. However, Dhumal, who has twice served as the chief minister, was trailing behind his one time protégé-turned-foe Rajinder Rana of the Congress.

The BJP will have to now look for a suitable person to head the government, if the trends firm up and Dhumal loses in the vote count.