Ankit Misra

A voter turnout of 13.72 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of voting in Himachal Pradesh. Polling is being held in a single phase in the state on 68 assembly seats.Polling in Himachal Pradesh on 68 assembly seats is underway to decide the fate of 337 candidates, with the BJP feeling confident of wresting the state from the Congress.

The fate of 337 candidates will be decided by as many as 50,25,941 voters, including 19 lakh women and 14 transgenders. Voting began at 8 am and will go on till 5 pm. Counting of votes will be held on December 18.Virbhadra Singh, JP Nadda, Shanta Kumar and PK Dhumal are among the top candidates who will be contesting the polls.

Virbhadra has already announced that this will be his last election.While the Dhumal-led BJP and the Virbhadra-led Congress are contesting all 68 seats, the BSP is fighting on 42 seats. CPI-M will field candidates on 14 seats, Swabhiman Party and Lok Gathbandhan Party on 6 each and the CPI on 3.

Meanwhile, VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines are being used for the first time in this election and 10 per cent of total EVMs and VVPATs have been kept in reserve. total of 11,500 Himachal Pradesh police jawans, 6400 home guards have been deployed across the state on election duty. Sixty-five companies of paramilitary forces have also been stationed for security, said Himachal Pradesh DGP Somesh Goyal.

Voting starts after delay at booth number 55 in Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh.

Voters create ruckus on Telag polling booth, which falls under Sadar assembly constituency of Bilaspur. Ruckus due to a technical glitch in EVM, administration on the spot to fix it.

13.72 per cent polling recorded in first two hours of Himachal Pradesh election.

Confident of getting majority in the election, the next Government too will be of Congress, says Virbhadra Singh.

Time has come, people have made up their mind to get rid of Congress, a party that has looted Himachal Pradesh. The state needs a senior leader like Dhumalji to look at the affairs of Himachal, which is under the debt of more than Rs 50,000 crore, says BJP MP from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur.

Candidate selection has been good this time, which wasn’t the case in the previous election. We are hopeful of good results. Our cadres are working hard to ensure that the BJP wins with a good majority, says PK Dhumal.

We will focus on the law and order situation, corruption, mafia rule, development works are numb, the economic situation is bad, says Dhumal.

All polls are important. This election will be a mandate against a useless government, which changes the face and fortune of Himachal Pradesh: Dhumal.

We aimed to get 50-plus seats, but now that we are receiving so much support from all sections of society, we expect it to cross 60, says BJP’s CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Himachal Elections 2017: Voting at polling station number 55 in Kinnaur, Reckong Peo has not yet started due to a technical glitch, the polling booth is all women-managed.