Himachal polls: Close fight seen between BJP, Congress in Himachal Pradesh

A close fight is being witnessed between the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress in Himachal Pradesh while Independent candidates were ahead in four seats according to the Election CommissionThe Aam Aadmi Party AAP which had fielded candidates in 67 seats is yet to open its accountAccording to the early trends available for all the 68 seats the Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in 33 the Congress in 31 while Independents were ahead in fourCandidates who are leading include Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from Seraj Ministers Bikram Singh Jaswant Paragpur Ram Lal Markande LahaulSpiti Rakesh Pathania Fatehpur and Speaker and BJP leader Vipin Singh Parmar SullahBJPs Puran Chand Darang former minister Narender Bragatas son Chetan Bragata Jubbal Kotkhai and former Union minister Sukh Rams son Anil Sharma Mandi Sadar are among those leadingCongress leader Mukesh Agnihotri who is the leader of opposition in the state assembly is leading from Haroli while former state Congress chief Kuldeep Rathore Theog former minister Sudhir Sharma Dharamsala and Dhani Ram Shandil Solan too are aheadAlso Read BJPs Kantilal Amrutiya leading in Morbi where bridge collapse killed over 140Others who are leading include Congress Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur Vikramaditya Singh son of late chief minister Virbhadra Singh from Shimla Rural and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu from NaudanHoshiyar Singh from Dehra and K L Thakur from Nalagarh are among the Independents who are leadingAccording to early trends among prominent candidates who are trailing include ministers Rajinder Garg from Ghumarwin Rajiv Saizal from Kasauli Suresh Bhardwaj from Kasumpti and Virender Kanwar from Kutlehar and Sarveen Chaudhary from ShahpurSenior Congress leader and sitting MLA Asha Kumari was trailing from Dalhousie while Congress Kaul Singh was trailing from DarangChief Minister Thakur and Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh have maintained that their parties would get full majority with over 40 out of the 68 seatsCounting of votes for the 68member assembly began at 8 am where the ruling BJP is hoping to retain powerIn the early trends the BJP was ahead The party will retain power in the state and change the tradition of the alternate government trend The picture will be clear by noon We are confident of winning Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Suresh Kashyap saidHimachal Pradesh has not returned any incumbent government to power in the last nearly four decadesThe results of the elections will also reveal whether the BJPs allout personalised campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to buck the alternate government trend has worked or notFor the opposition Congress however a victory in Himachal is muchneeded for its revival as it has seen a spate of electoral losses in the last few yearsAbout 7644 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise in the assembly polls held on November 12 A total of 412 candidates including 24 women and 99 independents are in the frayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever