Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been elected to power in Himachal Pradesh, wresting control from the Congress party, which heads the national government, the Election Commission said on Friday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) captured power in Himachal Pradesh on Friday by defeating the Congress and declared that its victory was a clear sign of its national resurgence.

In a landslide victory, the BJP won 41 of the 68 seats in the state assembly, where it previously held only 16, according to the Election Commission’s website.

The BJP won 41 of the 68 seats in the assembly while the Congress, a victim of poor governance and factionalism during the nearly five years it ruled the hill state, had to be content with 23 seats.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has been rapidly spreading its wings across the country after storming to power in Uttar Pradesh in May, won a seat in Himachal Pradesh for the first time. Three independents also won.

BJP’s Prem Kumar Dhumal, 63, who won from Bamson constituency in Hamirpur district, will be the state’s new chief minister and take oath Sunday. A former English teacher in Punjab, he was chief minister from 1998 until 2003.