Shimla: Close to 74 per cent votes were cast on Thursday for the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh Assembly as voting picked up pace in the afternoon, Deputy Election Commissioner Deepak Saxena said.
It is the highest ever voting percentage in the hill state, eclipsing the 73.51 per cent voting recorded in the 2012 assembly elections, officials said.
The polling was peaceful but there were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs and VVAPTs from several places. However, there were no delays caused by the snags, officials said.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal cast their votes at Rampur and Samirpur respectively.
Shyam Sharan Negi (101), the first voter of India, cast his vote for the 15th time in assembly polls at Kalpa in Kinnaur district.
The ruling Congress led by the chief minister and the BJP led with former chief minister Dhumal are contesting all 68 seats while the BSP is contesting 42 seats, followed by the CPI(M) 14, Swabhiman Party and Lok Gathbandhan Party six each and the CPI-3.
There is a straight contest only in one constituency (Jhanduta) while the maximum number of 12 candidates are in fray in Dharamsala. A total of 337 candidates, 19 of them women, are in the fray. There are 112 independent candidates.
The Himachal Pradesh results along with that of the BJP-ruled Gujarat will be a bellwether of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.
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