SHIMLA: Over 55 lakh voters will cast their votes to decide the fate of 412 candidates in the high-stake political battle in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday. The polling for the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh assembly is set to begin at 8 am amidst unprecedented security arrangements put in place by the Election Commission. The voting will go on till 5 pm today. The high-voltage political campaigns came to an end on November 10, setting up the stage for the voters to cast their vote to elect the new government. The votes will be counted on December 8. Voting is all set to take place on all the 68 Assembly seats of the state, the majority of which (44) had come in the BJP`s bag in the 2017 Assembly polls, with Congress being restricted to just 21 seats.


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The voters need to carry their Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) and show it at the polling booth. They may also carry one ID besides their photo voter slips. According to the Election Commission, a total of 55,92,828 electors of which 27,37,845 are women, 28,54,945 men and 38 were third-gender, will decide the faith of 412 candidates. This time, the representation of woman candidates is 24. The state, which has seen the power alternate between the BJP and Congress over the past several elections, is expected to witness a close battle as it goes to the polls today.


While the BJP has expressed confidence in returning to power on the basis of the performance of state and central governments and its vision for the state, the Congress is hoping that some of its electoral promises will be a major draw among the electorate.Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too hopes to create a mark in the state and is contesting on all 68 seats. Besides these three parties, parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP) are in the fray.


Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has filed his nomination from the Seraj Assembly constituency in Mandi district, with the Congress fielding Chetram Thakur, and the AAP giving ticket to Gita Nand Thakur from the constituency.


The BJP, Congress and AAP have released all the names for the 68 constituencies. Take a look -


1.Seraj – Jai Ram Thakur (BJP) vs Chetram Thakur (Congress) vs Gita Nand Thakur (AAP)


2.Churah (SC) – Hans Raj (BJP) vs Yashwant Singh Khanna (Congress) vs Nand Kumar Jaryal (AAP)


3.Bharmour (ST) – Janak Raj (BJP) vs Thakur Singh Bharmouri (Congress) vs Parkash Chand Bhardwaj (AAP)


4.Chamba – Indira Kapoor (BJP) vs Neeraj Nayyar (Congress) vs Shashi Kant (AAP)


5.Dalhousie – DS Thakur (BJP) vs Asha Kumari (Congress) vs Manish Sareen (AAP)


6.Bhattiyat – Bikram Jaryal (BJP) vs Kuldip Singh Pathania (Congress) vs Naresh Kumar (Kuku Thakur) (AAP)


7.Nurpur – Ranveer Singh (Nikka) (BJP) vs Ajay Mahajan (Congress) vs Manisha Kumari (AAP)


8.Indora (SC) – Reeta Dhiman (BJP) vs Malender Rajan (Congress) vs Jagdish Bagga (AAP)


9.Fatehpur – Rakesh Pathania (BJP) vs Bhawani Singh Pathania (Congress) vs Rajan Sushant (AAP)


10.Jawali – Sanjay Guleriya (BJP) vs Chander Kumar (Congress) vs Baldev Raj (AAP)


11.Jaswan-Pragpur – Bikram Thakur (BJP) vs Surinder Singh Mankotia (Congress) vs Sahil Chauhan (AAP)


12.Jaisinghpur (SC) – Ravinder Dhiman (BJP) vs Yadvinder Goma (Congress) vs Santosh Kumar (AAP)


13.Sullah – Vipin Singh Parmar (BJP) vs Jagdish Sapehia (Congress) vs Ravinder Singh Ravi (AAP)


14.Nagrota – Arun Kumar Mehra (Kuka) vs Raghubir Singh Bali (Congress) vs Umakant Dogra (AAP)


15.Kangra – Pawan Kajal (BJP) vs Surender Singh Kaku (Congress) vs Rajkumar Jaswal (AAP)


16.Shahpur – Sarveen Choudhary (BJP) vs Kewal Singh Pathania (Congress) vs Abhishek Thakur (AAP)


17.Dharamshala – Rakesh Chaudhary (BJP) vs Sudhir Sharma (Congress) vs Kulwant Rana (AAP)


18.Palampur – Trilok Kapoor (BJP) vs Ashish Butail (Congress) vs Sanjay Bharadwaj (AAP)


19.Bajinath (SC) – Mulkhraj Premi (BJP) vs Kishori Lal (Congress) vs Pramod Chand (AAP)


20.Lahaul & Spiti (ST) – Ramlal Markandey (BJP) vs Ravi Thakur (Congress) vs Sudershan Jaspa (AAP)


21.Manali – Govind Singh Thakur (BJP) vs Bhuvneshwar Gaur (Congress) vs Anurag Prarthi (AAP)


22.Banjar – Surendra Shourie (BJP) vs Khimi Ram (Congress) vs Neeraj Saini (AAP)


23.Anni (SC) – Lokendra Kumar (BJP) vs Bansi Lal Kaushal (Congress) vs Inder Paul (AAP)


24.Sundernagar – Rakesh Jamwal (BJP) vs Sohan Lal Thakur (Congress) vs Pooja Thakur (AAP)


25.Nachan (SC) – Vinod Kumar (BJP) vs Naresh Kumar (Congress) vs Jabna Chauhan (AAP)


26.Darang – Puran Chand Thakur (BJP) vs Kaul Singh Thakur (Congress) vs Sunita Thakur (AAP)


27.Jogindernagar – Prakash Rana (BJP) vs Surendra Pal Thakur (Congress) vs Ravider Paul Singh (AAP)


28.Dharampur – Rajat Thakur (BJP) vs Chandrashekhar (Congress) vs Rakesh Mandotra (AAP)


29.Mandi – Anil Sharma (BJP) vs Champa Thakur (Congress) vs Shyam Lal (AAP)


30.Balh (SC) – Indra Singh Gandhi (BJP) vs Prakash Chaudhary (Congress) vs Tara Chand Bhatia (AAP)


31.Sarkaghat – Daleep Thakur (BJP) vs Pawan Kumar (Congress) vs Dhameshwar Ram (AAP)


32.Bhoranj (SC) – Dr. Anil Dhiman (BJP) vs Suresh Kumar (Congress) vs Rajni Kaushal (AAP)


33.Sujanpur – Capt. (Retd.) Ranjeet Singh (BJP) vs Rajinder Singh Rana (Congress) vs Anil Rana (AAP)


34.Hamirpur – Narender Thakur (BJP) vs Dr Pushpendra Verma (Congress) vs Sushil Kumar Surroch (AAP)


35.Nadaun – Vijay Agnihotri (BJP) vs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu (Congress) vs Shanky Thukral (AAP)


36.Chintpurni (SC) – Balbir Singh Chaudhary (BJP) vs Sudarshan Singh Babloo (Congress) vs Ram Paul (AAP)


37.Gagret – Rajesh Thakur (BJP) vs Chaitanya Sharma (Congress) vs Manohar Dadwal (AAP)


38.Una – Satpal Singh Satti (BJP) vs Satpal Raizada (Congress) vs Rajiv Gautam (AAP)


39.Kutlehar – Virender Kanwar (BJP) vs Devender Kumar Bhutto (Congress) vs Anil Mankotiya (AAP)


40.Jhanduta (SC) – JR Katwal (BJP) vs Vivek Kumar (Congress) vs Sudhir Suman (AAP)


41.Ghumarwin – Rajinder Garg (BJP) vs Rajesh Dharmani (Congress) vs Rakesh Chopra (AAP)


42.Bilaspur – Trilok Jamwal (BJP) vs Bumber Thakur (Congress) vs Amar Singh Chaudhary (AAP)


43.Sri Naina Deviji – Randhir Sharma (BJP) vs Ram Lal Thakur (Congress) vs Narender Thakur (AAP)


44.Arki – Govind Ram Sharma (BJP) vs Sanjay Awasthi (Congress) vs Jeet Ram Sharma (AAP)


45.Nalagarh – Lakhwinder Rana (BJP) vs Hardeep Singh Bawa (Congress) vs Dharampal Chauhan (AAP)


46.Doon – Sardar Paramjeet Singh (Pammi) (BJP) vs Ram Kumar Chaudhary (Congress) vs Sawarn Singh Saini (AAP)


47.Solan (SC) – Dr. Rajesh Kashyap (BJP) vs Dhani Ram Shandil (Congress) vs Anju Rathore (AAP)


48.Kasauli (SC) – Dr. Rajiv Saizal (BJP) vs Vinod Sultanpuri (Congress) vs Harmel Dhiman (AAP)


49.Pachhad (SC) – Reena Kashyap (BJP) vs Dayal Pyari (Congress) vs Ankush Chauhan (AAP)


50.Nahan – Dr. Rajeev Bindal (BJP) vs Ajay Solanki (Congress) vs Sunil Sharma (AAP)


51.Sri Renukaji (SC) – Narayan Singh (BJP) vs Vinay Kumar (Congress) vs Lt.Col. Ram Krishnan (AAP)


52.Paonta Sahib – Sukhram Chaudhary (BJP) vs Kirnesh Jung (Congress) vs Manish Thakur (AAP)


53.Shillai – Baldev Tomar (BJP) vs Harshwardhan Singh Chauhan (Congress) vs Nathuram Chauhan (AAP)


54.Chopal – Balbir Verma (BJP) vs Rajneesh Kimta (Congress) vs Uday Singhta (AAP)


55.Theog – Ajay Shyam (BJP) vs Kuldeep Singh Rathore (Congress) vs Atar Singh Chandel (AAP)


56.Kasumpti – Suresh Bhardwaj (BJP) vs Anirudh Singh (Congress) vs Rajesh Channa (AAP)


57.Shimla – Sanjay Sood (BJP) vs Harish Janartha (Congress) vs Chaman Rakesh Ajta (AAP)


58.Shimla Rural – Ravi Mehta (BJP) vs Vikramaditya Singh (Congress) vs Prem Thakur (AAP)


59.Jubbal-Kotkhai – Chetan Bragta (BJP) vs Rohit Thakur (Congress) vs Srikant Chauhan (AAP)


60.Rohru (SC) – Shashi Bala (BJP) vs Mohan Lal Brakta (Congress) vs Ashwani Kumar (AAP)


61.Kinnaur (ST) – Surat Negi (BJP) vs Jagat Singh Negi (Congress) vs Tersem Singh (AAP)


62.Karsog (SC) – Deepraj Kapoor (Banthal) (BJP) vs Mahesh Raj (Congress) vs Bhagwant Singh (AAP)


63.Dehra – Ramesh Dhawala (BJP) vs Rajesh Sharma (Congress) vs Col. Manish Dhiman (AAP)


64.Jawalamukhi – Ravinder Singh Ravi (BJP) vs Sanjay Rattan (Congress) vs Hoshiyar Singh (AAP)


65.Kullu – Maheshwar Singh (BJP) vs Sunder Thakur (Congress) vs Sher Singh Shera Negi (AAP)


66.Barsar – Maya Sharma (BJP) vs Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Congress) vs Gulshan Soni (AAP)


67.Haroli – Ramkumar (BJP) vs Mukesh Agnihotri (Congress) vs Ravinder Pal Singh Mann (AAP)


68.Rampur (SC) – Kaul Negi (BJP) vs Nand Lal (Congress) vs Uday Singh Dogra (AAP)