Himachal Pradesh Polls 2022: Over 75 per cent turnout recorded, numbers to go up

Image Source: ANI

New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh registered a record voter turnout at 75.6 per cent in the assembly election, according to data available with state poll authorities on Sunday, November 13, 2022. The state went for a single-phase voting on Saturday and is still receiving postal ballots. The final turnout recorded in the 2017 assembly polls was 75.57 per cent. While 76.8 per cent of the total female electorate exercised their franchise, it was 72.4 per cent among men. The third gender poll percentage was 68.4 per cent. 

The total males in the electorate were 27.88 lakh and females were 27.36 lakh. The third-gender voters who had registered themselves were 38.

Citing reports received at state headquarters, the approximate poll percentage in the state stands at 75.6 per cent, state Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg said in a statement. He said the poll percentage recorded through electronic voting machines was 74.6 per cent.

"Besides this, one per cent of postal ballots had been received already, taking the overall turnout to 75.6 per cent till now and nearly two per cent postal ballots are yet to be received," the statement said.

The highest polling percentage of 85.25 per cent was reported from the Doon assembly constituency and the lowest polling percentage of 62.53 per cent was in Shimla assembly seat at the end of the poll. In this assembly polls, the state election department had laid a lot of focus on 11 constituencies with low voter turnout in 2017 polls, the statement noted.

A comparative analysis of these constituencies - Dharampur, Jaisinghpur, Shimla, Baijnath, Bhoranj, Solan, Kasumpati, Sarkaghat, Jaswan Pragpur, Hamirpur and Badsar - revealed that out of 11 seats, the voter turnout eventually improved in nine of them by up to seven per cent.

The percentage point increase in Dharampur seat was 6.93 from 63.6 pc in 2017 to 70.54 per cent in the just-concluded poll. These increases are other than the expected increase in postal ballots.

"However, in Shimla and Baijnath, the percentage dipped slightly from 63.93 per cent in 2017 to 62.53 per cent and from 64.92 per cent in 2017 to 63.46 per cent in 2022 respectively," it said.

The results of exit polls can be shown after 5.30 pm on December 5, the second and last phase of Gujarat assembly elections, the poll panel has said citing election law. The first phase is on December 1 and counting for the two states - HP and Gujarat, along with various bypolls - will take place on December 8. Voting began at 8 am on Saturday on a slow note but picked up as the day progressed and the sun warmed the winter chill.