Himachal Votes 2022: HP voter silent, parties banking on swing votes

Aditi Tandon

Shimla, November 12

The ruling BJP and the Congress on Saturday exuded confidence of victory in Himachal Pradesh as the state recorded nearly 66 per cent provisional turnout until 5 pm with Election Commission sources noting that the polling data percentage would rise further with reports from the field still coming in.

1,93,000 first-time voters in the state with 77% in the 18-19 age group registered voters

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1,21,409 aged 80-plus 1,136 voters aged above 100 years

105 booths located at a height of more than 10,000 feet

157 all-woman booths Creches arranged for women voters in Hamirpur

37 booths manned by differently abled polling booths manned by the differently abled, a segment which saw a rise by four times from 13,000 in 2017 to 56,000

100% polling at the world’s highest polling booth in Tashigang (Lahaul-Spiti) at 15,256 feet

Voters remained tight-lipped about their preference even as BJP sources claimed they had the edge and leaders managing the Congress war room too said they were comfortably placed.

The silence of voters kept the parties guessing with both the BJP and the Congress banking on swing votes to romp home.

BJP’s internal assessment based on poll trends said they would touch 40 comfortably. The Congress also claimed it was forming the next government.

While the Congress is banking on HP’s 40-year-old tradition of voting out incumbent government and the promise of old pension scheme and pro-women sops, the BJP says its women-centric guarantees and the PM’s personal engagement with voters would see it through, along with the support of first-time voters.

Saffron party sources said first-time voters had conventionally backed the BJP and PM Modi as in the 2014 and 2019 General Election and in UP and Uttarakhand where the party made history by repeating the government. There are 1,93,000 first-time voters in the state this time with 77 per cent in the 18-19 age group registering to vote. Women voters have outnumbered males since 1998.

The BJP is also banking on some potential rebels to return home should they win. The party has 21 rebels and the Congress 11.

Colours of democracy were on full display in the state where voters ranged from first-timers like Anupam Saini at Mandi’s Navahi booth to 105-year-old Naro Devi in Chamba’s Churah. Centenarians to 18 year olds, differently abled to 80-plus, the voters braved chill to come out and vote.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said the state had 1,21,409 voters aged 80 plus and 1,136 voters who were 100 plus.

He said world’s highest polling booth in Tashigang (Lahaul&Spiti), situated at 15,256 feet, saw 100 per cent voting. This booth had 52 registered voters.

As voters today braved the chill to stand up and be counted, it remains to be seen which way the election tilts — whether the BJP bucks the anti-incumbency trend, as it did in UP and Uttarakhand, or the Congress manages to sustain the convention of a five yearly change of guard.