At least 70 per cent of Himachal’s eligible electors cast their votes on Sunday to seal the fate of 45 candidates in the fray for state’s four Lok Sabha constituencies.
The turnout this time crossed the 2014 Lok Sabha mark of 64.42 per cent polling.
Five MLAs, including a state minister, are among the 45 candidates in fray.
“According to the reports received till 8:30 PM, the polling percentage in the state was 70 percent. Shimla Lok Sabha constituency (reserved) recorded polling percentage of 71.10, Mandi saw voter turnout of 72, Hamirpur 71.04 and Kangra 66,” said a state election officer.
There were minor hiccups as electronic voting machines developed snags at some places in the state, he said.
In Hatli Jamwal area of Nurpur Assembly segment in Kangra district, the polling was stopped in the morning for about an hour due to faulty VVPAT machine. It was immediately reported and the VVPAT was changed, he said.
In Khannai area, two differently-abled voters, both visually-impaired -- Saraj Deen, 70, and Shaver Deen, 41, were escorted by officials from their house in a government vehicle to the polling station to cast their votes, he added.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and two-time former Chief Ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar and former Union Minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma were among the early voters in the state.
Jai Ram Thakur along with his family members cast his vote at Bharari (Murhag) in Seraj Vidhan Sabha constituency of Mandi district. Thakur claimed that the BJP would will all four Lok Sabha seats in the state.
He said the voters in the state are supportive of the policies and works of the BJP governments at the Centre and state.
Later in the evening, he also thanked the voters for peaceful and enthusiastic polling in "record" numbers.
A total of 7,730 polling stations were set up in 4 constituencies — Shimla (SC), Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra — in the state where 53,30,154 registered voters are registered.
The main contest is between the Congress and the BJP in the state. With the electorate in the Lok Sabha polls traditionally favouring the party at the helm in the state, these elections are being seen as a referendum on the state's 17-month-old BJP government.
The BJP had wrested the state from the Congress in December, 2017, winning 44 seats in the 68-member Assembly. The Congress won 21 seats, independents two and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won one.
Sitting BJP MP and the Chief Minister’s confidante Ram Swaroop Sharma is seeking a second term from Mandi Lok Sabha seat and contesting against Congress greenhorn Ashray Sharma, who is the grandson of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.
In the Shimla (reserved) seat, Retired Colonel Dhani Ram Shandil, 78, is the Congress candidate against BJP’s nominee and former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer Suresh Kashyap, 48.
In Hamirpur, former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is trying to ensure a fourth term for his son Anurag Thakur, who is pitted against ex-wrestler and five-time Congress legislator Ram Lal Thakur.
From Kangra, the BJP’s nominee is Cabinet Minister Kishan Kapoor, 68, against Congress two-time legislator Pawan Kajal, 44. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all four seats in the state.
