Shimla: Himachal Pradesh on Saturday recorded about 68 per cent turnout for its four parliamentary seats, while for bypoll in six Assembly seats, the voting percentage was 69 per cent with no untoward incident reported during the polling in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Poll officials told IANS that the turnout in the parliamentary polls may go beyond 70 per cent.
A total of 57.11 lakh voters cast their votes till 6 p.m.
Prominent candidates in the fray included Union Minister Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur), Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma (Kangra), and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut (BJP) against state Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress (Mandi).
Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg thanked the voters for making the grand festival of democracy successful by ensuring their wholehearted participation. Polling picked up early in the morning, logging 31.92 per cent for the parliamentary elections by 11 a.m. and rising to 48.63 per cent at 1 p.m. It further picked up in the evening and by 5 p.m. it was 66.56 per cent. The highest 73.8 per cent voting was recorded in the Lahaul-Spiti district followed by 71.3 per cent in the Kullu district. The lowest (65 per cent each) was recorded in Chamba and Kangra districts.
He said the final figures would be released only after the return of all the polling parties and scrutiny of documents.
The Chief Electoral Officer said 41,924 voters above 85 years of age, persons with disabilities (PwD) and essential services voters cast their votes through postal ballot, apart from employees on election duty, which will add about one per cent to the overall voter turnout.
Apart from 92 and 128 in the tribal districts of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, respectively, 152 polling stations were set up in remote Bharmour and Pangi areas of Chamba, all falling in the Mandi parliamentary seat.
A total of 7,992 polling stations were set up in the state for about 56.45 lakh voters, excluding the 66,390 service voters.
A total of 37 candidates were in the fray for parliamentary constituencies and 25 for the assembly bye-elections.
Dedication to democracy was visible at the world’s highest polling station Tashigang, located at a height of 15,256 feet above sea level, in the Spiti Valley, as it recorded a poll percentage of 79 per cent for the general elections, a poll official said. Out of the 62 registered voters, 49 exercised their franchise, while the rest were outside the village. The polling booth falls in the Mandi parliamentary constituency.
Donning traditional dress, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rahul Jain welcomed voters at the Tashigang polling station.
In the 2022 Assembly polls and the 2019 general elections, this polling station recorded 100 per cent polling.
BJP President J.P. Nadda and his wife Mallika Nadda were the first to cast their votes in a polling station at their native place in the Bilaspur district. “I was the first voter at this polling booth. I appeal to all voters to vote in large numbers for a self-reliant India,” Nadda said after casting his vote.
Union Minister Thakur cast his vote, along with father and two-time Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and other family members at Hamirpur. “Our vote is for the progress, prosperity, stability and continuity of the country, for a developed India,” he said.
After casting her vote at her native Bhambla village in Mandi district, Kangana Ranaut appealed: “Urge all voting in the last phase of Lok Sabha elections to come out and vote in massive numbers and become a part of our vibrant festival of democracy.”
The outcome of the Assembly bypolls, necessitated by the disqualification of the sitting Congress legislators, will decide the fate of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government.
(IANS)
