5.02 pc voter turnout recorded till 9 am in Himachal Pradesh Polls

A voter turnout of 5.02 percent was recorded till 9 am in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections which are underway. Voters across the state queued up outside polling booths on Saturday to elect a new state government.

According to government data, 1.56 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Lahaul and Spiti and 6.26 per cent in Sirmaur. A total of 55,92,828 electors who can cast their votes till 5 pm today will decide the fate of 412 candidates who are in the fray.

Out of the total number of electorates, 27,37,845 are women, 28,54,945 men and 38 third-gender. This time, the representation of woman candidates is 24.According to the Election Commission, a total of 7,881 polling stations have been set up for today's 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 have also been set up at Sidhbari (Dharamshala), Bara Bhangal (Baijnath) and Dhillon (Kasauli).

The fight is in between the ruling BJP in the state which is looking to retain power and Congress which is banking on its '10 guarantees' that the party listed out in its manifesto to take them home.

Aam Aadmi Party is in line looking to leave a mark in the state and is contesting on all 68 seats. The key contests include Seraj where Chief Minister Jairam Thakur is contesting against Congress' Chetram Thakur and AAP candidate Gita Nand Thakur. Mahinder Rana is the CPI-M candidate.

Congress has fielded Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh from Shimla Rural against BJP's Ravi Mehta and AAP's Prem Thakur. Shimla Assembly constituency is set to witness a close fight among BJP, AAP, Congress and CPIM. Pratibha Singh who represents the Lok Sabha seat has been campaigning for Congress' Chetram Thakur. It would be interesting to see if she is able to pull off the turf which presently belongs to the BJP (Jairam Thakur).

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 had also campaigned in the hill state. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit the ground along with other top leaders of the party including Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.