Around 75% voters turned up to exercise their franchise in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections Sunday where polling took place in a single phase this time for 68 assembly seats.
"Approximately 75% voting has been recorded," said Narinder Chauhan , chief electoral officer.
Voting was smooth and peaceful barring a few incidents of electronic voting machines not working at 10 places which were later replaced.
Voting was reported to be the highest in Sirmaur and Kullu districts and lowest in the tribal district of Lahaul & Spiti.
This time the election campaign was a high pitched one with national leaders flying in to the hill state.
The main fight is between arch rivals the BJP and the Congress. Interestingly since 1985 no party has been able to repeat a term in Himachal.
The BJP campaign was led by chief minister P.K.Dhumal while the Congress side was led by five time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Dhumal is contesting from the Hamirpur seat while Singh from Shimla(rural).
The fate of 459 candidates will be known after a long wait on Dec 20 after Gujarat votes.
While the BJP and the Congress fought all the 68 seats. The BSP contested 66 seats. The newly formed Himachal Lokhit party(HLP) fielded candidates in 36 seats. TMC 25 , CPM 15, LJSP 17, SP 14, NCP 13 among others.
The state has 100% electors photo identity cards.