From correspondents in Himachal Pradesh, India, 09:00 PM IST

Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur Monday ruled out his resignation in the wake of the party's poor performance in parliamentary elections in the hill state.

'There is no question of submitting the resignation (in the wake of the party's poor performance in the just-concluded elections),' he told reporters here.

'The ruling party (Bharatiya Janata Party) has misused official machinery to woo the voters,' he said.

Replying to a question, Thakur said the party would soon analyse the reasons for its defeat.

The BJP won three out of Himachal's four seats while former Congress chief minister Virbhadra Singh won the Mandi seat by a margin of over 13,000 votes.

Regarding the Congress' defeat in the Shimla reserved seat, which was a known Congress bastion, Thakur said: 'We will shortly study our weaknesses and shortcomings.'

In the 2004 general elections, the Congress had won the Shimla, Kangra and Mandi parliamentary seats, while the BJP got the Hamirpur seat.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)