Shimla: Polling began on Saturday with 57.11 lakh voters casting votes for four Parliamentary seats and by-poll for six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh till 6 p.m.
The prominent candidates in the fray include Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, former Union Minister Anand Sharma, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh, who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
The by-elections to Assembly seats are a contest for political survival for the six former Congress legislators, who are conducting polls as the BJP candidates from their constituencies.
A total of 37 candidates are in the fray for the four Lok Sabha seats of Mandi, Kangra, Hamirpur and Shimla (reserved), while 25 candidates are contesting the six by-elections in Dharamsala, Gagret, Kutlehar, Sujanpur, Barsar and Lahaul and Spiti constituencies.
Polling will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Himachal Pradesh seems to be heading for a bipolar contest between the state-ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP.
The BJP, which won all Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019, seems to be banking high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “charisma” after his three election rallies to retain all Parliamentary seats and win six Assembly seats, while the Congress is eyeing on its strong vote bank of 2.5-lakh government employees, whose demand of restoring the old pension scheme has been implemented by its government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
The Congress on December 8, 2022, got an absolute majority in the Assembly elections, winning 40 seats — six more than the halfway mark of 34 in the 68-member House, while the outgoing BJP was reduced to 25.
According to the Election Commission, a total of 57 lakh electorates will decide the future of 37 candidates in the fray for the four Lok Sabha seats and 25 for the Assembly by-polls on six seats.
In the 2019 general polls, the BJP had won all four parliamentary seats. Later in the bypoll, the Congress won the Mandi seat.
Counting of votes will be held on June 4, as in the rest of the country.
–IANS