At 75.6%, Himachal logs record voter turnout
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh registered a record voter turnout of 75.6% in the assembly elections on Saturday, the Election Commission said on Sunday.
The turnout, which was the highest since 1967, according to data, is likely to increase as the poll body is yet to received the postal ballots.
“The approximate polling percentage in the state stands at 75.6%,” chief electoral officer Maneesh Garg said.
“The poll percentage through electronic voting machines was 74.6%. Besides this, 1% of postal ballots have been received already, taking the overall turnout to 75.6%, so far. Nearly 2% of postal ballots are yet to be received,” he added.
The final turnout recorded in the 2017 assembly elections was 75.57 per cent.
Voting in the state for 68 assembly seats was held in a single phase on Saturday. The results will be declared on December 8.
According to the Election Commission, women voters outnumbered the men. While 76.8% of the total women electorate cast their ballots, it was 72.4% among the men.
Among all 68 constituencies, Doon in Solan district recorded the highest turnout of 85.25%.
Shillai recorded the secondhighest polling percentage of 84.21%. Seraj, the home turf of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and Sri Naina Devi Ji constituency in Bilaspur district jointly recorded a turnout of 82.10%, the poll body said. Of the total 412 candidates in the fray, only 24 are women. The BJP and the Congress have fielded candidates in all 68 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is contesting 67 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 53. A total of 99 independent candidates are also in the poll fray.
In the previous state polls in 2017, the BJP won 44 seats, Congress 21, two were independents while one seat was won by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is contesting 11 seats this time around.