AMN
The single phase polling concluded peacefully today for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly with a voter turnout 65.75 recorded till 5:00 pm. With this, the fate of 412 candidates was sealed in the EVMs. The counting of votes would be taken up on the 8th of December. A total of 412 candidates, including 24 women, are in the fray this time.
The voting started at 8 am and continued till 5 pm. At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 5 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes. Voters across the State could be seen reaching polling stations even before polling started at 8 a.m. despite the severe cold in snowbound areas.
- The BJP expressed confidence that they will come back to power in the state. BJP’s national president JP Nadda assured that the party was in “comfortable majority”, adding that Jairam Thakur will continue to be the CM face. Union minister Anurag Thakur also said that the BJP was confident that “the people (of Himachal Pradesh) will bless us once again so that the double-engine government comes back”. Meanwhile, the Congress wrote to the Election Commission alleging that long queues were being observed at many polling booths. The Congress alleged the long queues were due to poll officials working at a very slow pace.