On Saturday, the world’s highest polling station booth in Lahaul and Spiti’s Tashigang recorded 98.08 percent voter turnout.
In Himachal Pradesh, 51 of the 52 registered voters cast ballots to elect a new state government.
The polling station in Tashigang, located at a height of 15,256 feet, was designated as a Model Polling Station to make voting easier for senior citizens and disabled voters.
Voting for the new Himachal Pradesh government began at 8 a.m. on Saturday, amid tight security.
A total of 55,92,828 electors who can vote until 5 p.m. today will decide the fate of the 412 candidates in the race.
The state has 27,37,845 female electors, 28,54,945 male electors, and 38 third-gender electors. This time, 24 women candidates from various parties are running.
The high-voltage campaigning for the state elections concluded on November 10, with the key players The BJP and the Congress are mobilising their heavyweights to campaign for their respective party candidates, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Chattisgahr Chief Minister Bhupaesh, among others.
The battle is between the state’s ruling BJP, which wants to keep power despite the trend of an alternate party taking power every five years since 1982, and the Congress, which is counting on the ‘ten guarantees’ listed in its manifesto to win them over. The Aam Aadmi Party is looking to make a name for itself in the state and is thus contesting all 68 seats on its own. The challenge for the ruling BJP will be to defy anti-incumbency and reverse the alternate government’s trend.
Aside from these three parties, other contenders include the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP).
The Election Commission reports that 7,881 polling stations have been set up for today’s elections. The Kangra district has the most polling stations (1,625), while the Lahaul-Spiti district has the fewest (92). There are 7,235 polling places in rural areas and 646 polling places in urban areas. In addition, three auxiliary polling stations have been established in Sidhbari (Dharamshala), Bara Bhangal (Baijnath), and Dhillon (Kasauli).
Seraj is one of the key contests, with Chief Minister Jairam Thakur running against Congress’ Chetram Thakur and AAP’s Gita Nand Thakur. The CPI-M candidate is Mahinder Rana.
Meanwhile, 67 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies totaling 6,700 personnel and 15 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies have been deployed in Himachal Pradesh to ensure free and fair Assembly elections.
Aside from that, 50,000 government employees have been assigned to poll duty. A total of 25,000 police officers are also stationed throughout the state.
Teams of 800 personnel from the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have also been deployed.
In 2017, the BJP won 44 of the 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh, while the Congress received only 21.
