Shimla, Dec. 9 -- Himachal Pradesh voted for a change as the ballot boxes were opened on Thursday with the Congress romping home comfortably and demolishing the BJP's hope of returning to power once again in the hill State.

Dev Bhoomi, as Himachal is called, did not spring any surprise as it has been throwing incumbent Governments out of power for the last four decades and it continued with this tradition by giving the Congress 40 seats and the BJP 25.

The Independents won 3 in the 68-member Assembly. Apart from other factors, what helped the Congress was the complete demolition of the AAP, which failed to eat into the Congress vote bank or get the anti-incumbency votes, failing to open its account in the State.

Chief Minister Jairam T...