Polling begins in Himachal to elect 68-member Assembly

Shimla, November 12, 2022

Polling began this morning amidst tight security in Himachal Pradesh to elect a new 68-member legislative assembly in the state.

The single-phase poll began at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm.

There are 412 candidates in the fray, including 24 women.

A total of 55,92,828 voters are eligible to vote in the elections. Of them, 193,106 are first-time voters in the age of 18-19 years.

There are 121,409 voters above 80 years, while 56,501 others are with disabilities.

The main contest is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.

Facing strong winds of anti-incumbency, the BJP leadership led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur seems to be banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "charisma", while the main Opposition Congress is eyeing to return to the helm by wooing its 2.5-lakh strong government employees, the state's crucial vote bank, with a promise of restoring the old pension scheme.

The senior leadership of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in the fray for the first time in the Assembly polls, has been missing from the state with its leaders focusing on strengthening its vote bank in another poll-bound Gujarat.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 44 seats, the Congress 21, the CPM one and Independents two. The voter turnout then was 75.57 per cent.

The counting of votes cast on Saturday will be taken up on December 8, along with the votes in the Gujarat Assembly elections, which will be held on December 1 and 8.

(With inputs from IANS)

NNN