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7.00 p.m Senior BJP leader Maheshwar Singh failed to retain his Kullu seat.
6.45 p.m BJP candidate Suresh Bharadwaj retained the prestigious Shimla seat while Anirudh Singh of Congress retained Kusumpti seat.
Congress candidate Harshvardhan won from Shillai, wresting the seat from Baldev Singh Tomar of BJP while Govind Thakur of BJP scored the third successive victory from Manali.
6.30 p.m Senior-most minister Kaul Singh lost the polls from Drang and while his daughter Champa Thakur suffered defeat at the hands of BJP’s Anil Sharma from Mandi.
6.00 P.M.
Like dad, like son. Vikramaditya Singh, son of current Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, has won the Shimla Rural seat. This result was declared shortly after Mr Virbhadra claimed the Arki seat. Mr Vikramaditya defeated BJP candidate Dr Pramod Sharma by a margin of 4880 votes. In fact, Mr Virbhadra claimed Shimla Rural in 2012. Singh when you're winning
6.00 p.m BJP’s chief ministerial face in the Himachal Pradesh polls, Prem Kumar Dhumal, today faced defeat in the contest for the Sujanpur Assembly seat even as his party appeared set to form the government.
The former chief minister lost to his Congress rival Rajinder Singh Rana by about 3,500 votes.
6.00 pm Virbhadra Singh, the incumbent Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, has won his Assembly seat in Arki. He has defeated his BJP candidate Rattan Singh Pal by a margin of 6051 votes. In 2012, BJP's Govind Ram Sharma was the winner. This is better news for Mr. Virbhadra as earlier in the day, many of ministers in his Council lost their seats.
3:30 pm: Trends and leads
3.01 pm: Markets staged a smart recovery after over 850 points fall as the BJP headed for a victory in Gujarat to retain its nearly two-decade stranglehold over power, and also stayed on course to oust the Congress in Himachal Pradesh.
2.20 pm: Communist Party of India (Marxist) wins Theog assembly seat.
2.10 pm: BJP’s poll performance a victory of PM’s policies, says Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. Read more
1.32 pm: BJP wins Lahaul & Spiti assembly constituency.
1.06 pm: Trends and leads
12.30 pm: BJP’s candidate Suresh Bhardwaj defeats Independent Harish Janartha in Shimla seat by 1,903 votes while in Anni , BJP’s Kishori Lal beats Cong’s Paras Ram 5,983 votes.
12.16 pm: BJP wins Anni and Shimla constituencies.
12.13 pm: With poll trends favouring the BJP in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, party workers celebrating outside the Mumbai office. Photo: Paul Noronha
12.08 pm: Sensex surges 213 points as trends indicate BJP's victory in Gujarat, Himachal. Catch the live market updates here
12.03 pm: BJP activists celebrate in Hyderabad as the party is leading in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Photo: G Ramakrishna
11.37 am: Markets staged a smart recovery from the opening low as Prime Minister Narendra Modi today flashed a victory sign.
11.29 am: According to ECI website, Congress wins Kasumpti constituency. Anirudh Singh defeats BJP ’s Vijay Jyoti by a margin of 9,397 votes
11.27 am: Trends show BJP leading in 40 seats and Congress in 21 seats
11.18 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed a victory sign after he arrived in Parliament to attend the winter session, as the BJP pulled ahead of the Congress in trends for the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assembly polls.
11.08 am: Prem Kumar Dhumal , BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in Himachal Pradesh, was trailing behind Congress’s Rajinder Rana in Sujanpur
10.28 am: Congress veteran and six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh are leading from Arki and Shimla (Rural) respectively, according to early trends.
Independents are leading in two constituencies while the CPI(M) is ahead in one.
10.19 am: BJP is ahead in the State with 40 seats and Congress in 24 seats
9.53 am: BJP is leading in 28 seats while the Congress is ahead in 19 seats, according to early Election Commission trends.
The CPI(M) is ahead in one seat after nearly two hours of counting. Trends are available for 43 seats.
9.39 am: The CPI(M) was ahead in one seat after one hour of counting. Trends are available for 28 seats.
9.38 am: BJP leads in 39 seats and Congress in 19 seats
9.28 am: BJP takes a lead in 35 constituencies and Congress in 19 seats
9.18 am: BJP and Congress in a neck-and-neck contest. BJP leading in 30 seats while Congress in 19
8.45 am: Trends show BJP taking a lead in 11 constituency seats and Congress in 2 seats
Trends at 8.30 am shows BJP leading in 4 seats and Congress in 2 seats.
Counting of votes was today underway for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections where traditional rivals BJP and Congress have contested all 68 seats. The fate of 337 candidates including Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his predecessor Prem Kumar Dhumal will be known by the end of counting.
The hill state witnessed a record 75.28 per cent turnout. Adequate security arrangements have been made for counting which started simultaneously in all 68 constituencies at 42 counting centres.
Corruption was the main focus of the BJP campaign with the party training its guns at Chief Minister Singh, while the Congress hit out at the BJP over the issue of GST and demonetisation. The BSP contested 42 seats followed by the CPI(M) 14, the Swabhiman party and the Lok Gathbandhan Party six each and the CPI-3.
Out of 67 sitting MLAs, 60 MLAS, nine cabinet ministers, HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Sukkhu, state BJP chief, Satpal Singh Satti, Deputy Speaker, Jagat Singh Negi and eight Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) contested the poll along with a dozen former ministers.
Himachal has a tradition of change in government after every elections and going by the trend, this time it is the turn of the BJP which is upbeat after exit poll results. There are 25 Congress, 28 BJP and four independent MLAs in the outgoing house while one seat was lying vacant after death of former minister Karan Singh from Banjar.
Sitting Rajya Sabha member Viplov Thakur(Congress), former Lok Sabha members, Chander Kumar(Congress and Dr Rajan Shushant (Independent) and former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar(BJP) are also among key contestants.
While the BJP is confident of winning the polls with a comfortable majority, the Congress has rejected the exit-polls and claimed that it was all set to repeat. The BJP ousted the Congress in 1990 and the Congress avenged defeat in 1993. The BJP formed the government with the help of Himachal Vikas Congress in 1998 and the Congress was back in power in 2003. The BJP made a comeback in 2007.
2,820 counting staff has been deployed for tomorrow’s exercise which includes counting supervisors, counting assistants and micro observers.
Chief Electoral Officer, Pushpender Rajput said three- tier security arrangements have been made at all counting centres. He said wire mesh barricading has been done at counting centers and there was a separate entry passage for counting staff and counting agents.
Videography and CCTV coverage will be done in all counting centres.
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