Himachal Pradesh witnessed a 68 per cent voter turnout in parliamentary and 69 per cent for assembly by-elections on Saturday.

The voting this time has been low as compared to the previous in 2019 Lok Sabha elections when it was 72.42 per cent, an all-time high for the state.

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The electoral battle in the state is predominantly between two major political parties, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP, which had won all four seats in 2019, is eyeing a third consecutive victory.

All four parliamentary constituencies Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, and Shimla, recorded low voting as compared to the last LS elections.

The voter turnout in the Hamirpur LS seat was 66.57 per cent against 72.83 per cent in 2019, Kangra 65.25 per cent against the previous 70.73 per cent.

The most watched parliamentary constituency Mandi has an interesting electoral battle between BJP candidate Bollywood actress Kangna Ranaut and Congress candidate and Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former six-time Congress chief minister Virbhadra Singh and the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Pratibha Singh.

The Mandi seat recorded around 69.78 per cent voting while in the last elections, the voting percentage here was 73.6 per cent. The Shimla LS seat saw 68.10 per cent voting as against 72.68 per cent in 2019 elections.

The bye-elections were held simultaneously in six Assembly constituencies (AC).

The voter turnout in Dharamshala AC was 66.27 per cent, 50 per cent in Barsar, 73.72 per cent in Lahaul-Spiti, 68.28 per cent in Gagret, 63 per cent in Sujanpur, and 71.76 per cent in Kutlehar.

Chief Election Officer Manish Garg noted that the people of Himachal participated in the voting process with enthusiasm. He said a successful voting in the state has been possible only due to the continuous efforts of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Himachal Election Department and the participation of the people.

He said according to the information received so far in the state headquarters, about 68 per cent voting was recorded in four parliamentary constituencies and about 69 per cent in six assembly by-elections till 5.30 pm.

“As per the information received till 5.30 pm, the highest voting of 73.8 per cent was recorded in the Lahaul-Spiti district, 71.45 per cent in the Kinnaur district, 71.3 per cent in the Kullu district, while the lowest voting of 65 per cent each was recorded in the Chamba and Kangra districts,” said Garg.

He said the final figures of voting percentage would be released only after the return of all the polling parties and scrutiny of documents.

Voting in the state was peaceful, for which proper arrangements were made by the Election Department, he said, adding that even in far-flung areas, people reached to vote with full zeal and enthusiasm. Apart from 92 in tribal the district of Lahaul-Spiti and 128 in Kinnaur, a total of 152 polling stations were set up in tribal areas of the Chamba district Bharmour and Pangi.

The chief electoral officer informed that in view of the message of environmental protection and increasing green cover, a total of 44 green polling stations were set up in different parts of the state.

A total of 7,992 polling stations were set up in the state for about 56.45 lakh voters of the state, excluding service-eligible voters that were 66,390, he informed.

He informed that 37 candidates were in the fray for parliamentary constituencies and 25 for assembly by-elections, out of which 3 were women candidates for parliamentary constituencies and one for assembly by-elections. A maximum of 12 candidates contested from Hamirpur and a minimum of five candidates contested from the Shimla parliamentary constituency.