HP Assembly polls: Political fate of 412 candidates to be sealed today

The day for the electorate to decide the political fate of the leaders across parties in Himachal Pradesh has arrived with the polling for the assembly elections is all set to begin at 8 am on Saturday.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) : The day for the electorate to decide the political fate of the leaders across parties in Himachal Pradesh has arrived with the polling for the assembly elections is all set to begin today at 8 am.

The high-voltage political campaigns came to an end on November 10, setting up the stage for the voters to cast their vote to elect the new government. The voting will go on till 5 pm today. The votes will be counted on December 8.

Voting is all set to take place on all the 68 Assembly seats of the state, the majority of which (44) had come in the BJP's bag in the 2017 Assembly polls, with Congress being restricted to just 21 seats. The voters need to carry their Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) and show it at the polling booth. They may also carry one ID besides their photo voter slips.

According to the Election Commission, a total of 55,92,828 electors of which 27,37,845 are women, 28,54,945 men and 38 were third-gender, will decide the faith of 412 candidates. This time, the representation of woman candidates is 24. The state, which has seen the power alternate between the BJP and Congress over the past several elections, will go to the polls on Saturday. While the BJP has expressed confidence in returning to power on the basis of the performance of state and central governments and its vision for the state, the Congress is hoping that some of its electoral promises will be a major draw among the electorate.

Aam Adami Party (AAP) too hopes to create a mark in the state and is contesting on all 68 seats. Besides these three parties, parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP) are in the fray.

BJP brought star campaigners like Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also campaigned in the hill state. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit the ground along with other top leaders of the party including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

Today's polls also carry much significance for JP Nadda since Himachal Pradesh is his native state. According to Election Commission, a total of 7,881 polling stations have been set up for the polls. The Kangra district has a maximum of 1,625 polling stations while the Lahaul-Spiti district has the lowest 92. There are 7,235 polling stations in rural and 646 polling stations in urban areas. Besides, three auxiliary polling stations will also be set up at Sidhbari (Dharamshala), Bara Bhangal (Baijnath) and Dhillon (Kasauli).

The key constituencies include Seraj from where Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is contesting again. Congress has put up Chetram Thakur who had contested from the seat last time also. Mahinder Rana is the CPI-M candidate. Congress legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri is contesting his fifth election from the Haroli assembly segment in the Una district. BJP has pitted state spokesperson Ram Kumar against him.

Former Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, seen as a chief ministerial aspirant, is contesting from Nadaun. The BJP has fielded Vijay Agnihotri. Former Himachal Minister and Congress leader Asha Kumari is contesting from Dalhousie. She is pitted against BJP's DS Thakur and AAP's Manish Sareen.

Senior Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur is again fighting from his traditional seat of Darang against BJP's Puran Chand Thakur and AAP candidate Sunita Thakur. Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, is recontesting from Shimla rural. BJP has fielded Ravi Mehta from the seat.

In Shimla Urban, Congress' Harish Janartha is taking on BJP's 'chaiwala' candidate Sanjay Sood. AAP's Chaman Rakesh Ajta and CPI-M's Tikender Singh Pawar are also in the fray. In Nurpur, BJP has fielded a new candidate Ranveer Singh who is fighting against Ajay Mahajan of Congress and Manishi Kumari from AAP.

Bhawani Paathania, who won the recent by-election from Fatehpur, is fighting against BJP minister and candidate Rakesh Pathania. AAP has fielded former Himachal minister Rajan Sushant.