Himachal Pradesh Election Results 2022 Updates: Congress holds meeting of newly-elected Himachal MLAs

Senior Congress leader Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu leading by 2962 votes in Nadaun seat of Hamirpur district.

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur is leading by 13695 votes from Serah seat.

BJP's sitting chief minister Bhupendra Patel was leading in Ghatlodiya assembly seat with 7869 votes. Patel contested against Amee Yajnik of Congress, who had 1166 seats and Vijay Patel of the AAP, who showed 488, according to EC. BJP's Gulabsinh Ratansinh Padhiyar was leading from Anklav with a margin of 1,738 votes as Congress' Amit Chavda is trailing on the seat. BJP's Ishvarbhai alias Anilbhai Ramanbhai Parmar was leading from Bardoli, while Congress' Pannaben Patel is trailing by 2,418 votes.

Senior Congress leader Asha Kumari is trailing by 268 votes in Dalhousie seat of Chamba district.

The ruling BJP is leading in 32 seats and the Congress in 34 while Independent candidates are ahead on two seats in Himachal Pradesh, according to the Election Commission. Candidates who are leading include Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from Seraj, BJP's Puran Chand from Darang, Chetan Bragata, son of former minister Narender Bragata, from Jubbal Kotkhai, Anil Sharma, son of former Union minister Sukhram, from Mandi Sadar and Congress' Jagat Singh Negi, a former deputy speaker, from Kinnaur.

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur is leading by 7664 votes in Seraj assembly seat of Mandi district.

BJP Minister Rakesh Pathania is trailing by 2667 votes on Fatehpur assembly seat of Kangra district.

Independent candidate Hoshyar Singh leading by 2386 votes on Dehra seat of Kangra district.

BJP Minister Sarveen Chaudhary trailing by 2771 votes on Shahpur assembly seat of Kangra district.

Senior Congress leader Asha Kumari trailing by 3293 votes in Dalhousie seat of Chamba district.

BJP Minister Suresh Bhardwaj is trailing by 3784 votes in Kasumpti seat of Shimla district.

Independent candidate K L Thakur is leading by 4180 votes in Nalagarh seat of Solan district. He turned rebel after BJP denied ticket to him and gave ticket to sitting Congress MLA Lakhvinder Singh Rana.

In Rampur assembly constituency of Shimla district, BJP candidate Kaul Singh is leading by 2994 votes.

The fear of exodus of lawmakers from the Congress is high. The result will decide the fate of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, 57, who is in the fray from his stronghold Seraj from where he has won five consecutive elections -- 1998, 2003, 2007, 2012 and 2017. With elections contested under his leadership, BJP chief J.P. Nadda has announced that if the party wins, Thakur will be the chief minister.

As most exit poll surveys have predicted a tight contest between the incumbent BJP and the opposition Congress, with the former holding slight edge, the Thursday Assembly results in Himachal Pradesh will decide the fate of many senior leaders of both the parties. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in the fray for the first time in the Assembly polls, has been missing from the state with its leaders focusing on strengthening its vote bank in Gujarat.

BJP -20Congress - 17AAP - 0Other - 0

Seraj
AAP - Gita Nand
BJP - Jai Ram Thakur
INC - Chetram Thakur

Sujanpur
AAP - Anil Rana
BJP - Ranjeet Singh
INC - Rajinder Singh Rana

Nadaun
AAP - Shanky Thukral
BJP - Vijay Agnihotri
INC - Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

Paonta Sahib
AAP - Manish Thakur
BJP - Sukh Ram Chaudhary
INC - Kirnesh Jung

Theog
AAP - Atar Singh Chandel
BJP - Ajay Shyam
INC - Kuldeep Singh Rathore

Kasumpti
AAP - Rajesh Channa
BJP - Suresh Bhardwaj
INC - Anirudh Singh

Shimla Rural
AAP - Prem Thakur
BJP - Ravi Mehta
INC - Vikramadi Singh Vrk

Seraj, Sujanpur, Nadaun, Paonta Sahib, Theog, Kasumpti and Shimla Rural

With exit poll predictions of a return of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh, the ruling party is hoping to set new records by changing the trend of not repeating government after five years while the Congress is hopeful that the party would form the government with a full majority in the hill state as the stage is all set for counting of votes for Himachal Pradesh Assembly election.

Party insiders say that any hopes for the party's revival has to start from Himachal Pradesh. It is expecting the electorate to go by the nearly four-decade old tradition of voting out the incumbent government in the hill state. But with all but two exit polls predicting an edge for the ruling BJP it remains to be seen which way the voters have decided in the closely fought elections.The hill state has not returned any incumbent government to power after 1985, a trend the ruling BJP, powered by Prime Minister Modi's personalised campaign, hopes to break.

With exit poll predictions of a return of the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, the ruling party is hoping to set new records by changing the trend of not repeating government after five years while the Congress is hopeful that the party would form the government with a full majority in the hill state.

A day before the counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Congress expelled 30 of its office-bearers in the Chopal constituency in Shimla district for anti-party activities for a period of six years. State Congress president Pratibha Singh expelled the 30 office-bearers from the party’s primary membership with immediate effect on a complaint by Chopal block Congress committee. The party had fielded general secretary (organisation) Rajnish Kimta from the seat, who faced a tough fight from rebel former MLA Subhash Manglate, who contested asan independent after being denied a party ticket.

State election department laid focus on 11 constituencies with low voter turnout in 2017 assembly polls. A comparative analysis of Dharampur, Jaisinghpur, Shimla, Baijnath, Bhoranj, Solan, Kasumpati, Sarkaghat, Jaswan Pragpur, Hamirpur and Badsar constituencies revealed that the voter turnout improved in nine of them by up to 7%.

Shimla assembly constituency recorded the lowest poll percentage of 62.5% — almost 13 percentage points lower than the 75.6% overall turnout. It was also less than the 2017 turnout by 1.4 percentage points.

Average voter turnout in urban areas was lower by 8 percentage points as compared to the rural constituencies. Dharamshala recorded 70.9% polling, Solan 66.8% and Kasumpti 68.3%. The overall turnout in urban areas of Himachal Pradesh averaged 67.6%, which is 8 percentage points lower than the turnout in its rural constituencies.

The polling for 68 constituency seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12. The voting percentage through EVMs was 74. 6%, while postal ballots accounted for the remaining 1%. The total male, female and third-gender electors were: 27. 9 lakh, 27. 4 lakh and 38, respectively. Of these, the turnout was 72. 4% for men and 76. 8% for women. The turnout for third gender was 68. 4%. The highest polling percentage of 85.25 per cent was reported from Doon constituency.

A three-tier security system has been set up for the strong rooms, the innermost parameter of which will be guarded by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), and second and third by the armed Police and district executive force. No candidate or any other person will be allowed within 100 metres of counting centres except those with a valid identity card/pass issued by the Election Commission of India.