CHANDIGARH: High voter turnout marks the final phase of Himachal Pradesh’s Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls; prominent leaders cast ballots early.
A voter turnout of 66.56% was recorded by 5 PM on Saturday across the four Lok Sabha constituencies in Himachal Pradesh, where polling is underway in the final phase of the general election, officials reported.
The Kangra parliamentary seat saw a 64.07% turnout, Mandi recorded 69.07%, Hamirpur had 65.90%, and the Shimla (SC) seat reached 67.50%.
Simultaneously, by-polls in six assembly constituencies showed varying turnout rates: Dharamshala recorded 66.27%, Lahaul and Spiti 73.72%, Sujanpur 63.00%, Barsar 50%, Gagret 68.28%, and Kutlehar 71.40%.
In Chamba district’s Churah subdivision, residents of the Makhan-Chachul area boycotted the Lok Sabha polls over road connectivity and electricity supply issues.
Voting began at 7 AM and will conclude at 6 PM. A total of 62 candidates are contesting—37 for the four Lok Sabha seats and 25 for the assembly by-elections. Prominent leaders in the fray include Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Anurag Thakur and Bollywood actor Kangna Ranaut, Congress’s Anand Sharma and Vikramaditya Singh, and sitting BJP MP from Shimla Suresh Kashyap.
BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda was among the early voters, casting his ballot at the Vijaypur Anganwadi centre in Bilaspur. Union minister and BJP candidate from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur, along with his father and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, also voted early at the Samirpur polling booth.
Other notable voters included Congress candidates Satpal Raizada (Hamirpur) and Anand Sharma (Kangra), and BJP candidate from Mandi Kangana Ranaut. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri voted in their home constituencies of Nadaun and Haroli, respectively.
Congress candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh, along with his mother and state party chief Pratibha Singh, paid obeisance at a temple in Rampur before voting. Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla and Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh Manish Garg also cast their votes in Shimla.
BJP state president Rajiv Bindal, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, and other prominent BJP candidates also exercised their franchise early in the day.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu stated that voters would respond strongly to those attempting to topple the elected Congress government, while Bindal expressed confidence in a BJP victory across all contested seats.
With temperatures rising in the plains of Una and Hamirpur districts, many voters came out early to cast their ballots. Security forces were adequately deployed at 7,992 polling booths and two auxiliary polling stations, with 369 polling booths identified as critical.
A total of 57,11,969 voters, including 438 centenarians, are eligible to vote in these elections.