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The ruling Congress Party is on the verge of a big defeat in the hill state as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won eight seats and is leading in 37 out of 68 seats in the 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, at the time of filing this copy.
As of 4:09 pm, the BJP got 48.4 percent of vote share compared to Congress's 42 percent. Less than 1 percent of voters (0.9 percent) pressed the None Of The Above (NOTA) option.
Click here for full coverage and analysis on the Assembly election results
Here's how some of the key political leaders and candidates fared:
> Virbhadra Singh
The ruling Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh won by a margin of 4,996 votes in Solan district's Akri, where he was contesting against BJP's sitting legislator Rattan Singh Pal. BJP had won this seat in the 2012 assembly elections.
> Suresh Bhardwaj
In the state capital, Shimla, sitting BJP MLA Suresh Bhardwaj won by a narrow margin of 628 votes. Bharadwaj has won the seat thrice before- in 2012, in 2007 and in 1990. He faced stiff competition from Independent candidate Harish Janartha, who received 12,109 votes.
> Prem Kumar Dhumal
Congress' sitting MLA Rajinder Singh defeated the BJP's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal by 2822 votes in Sujanpur. Singh had won the seat as an independent candidate in the 2012 election.
Also Read: Saffron splashed across 19 states: A look at how the BJP has evolved in three years
> Nand Lal
Congress candidate and two-time legislator and Nand Lal edged past his BJP rival Prem Singh Daraik by a margin of 3424 votes. Even in 2012, Daraik had lost to Nand Lal.
> Mohan Lal Brakta
Congress MLA Mohan Lal Brakta upheld his party's winning tradition in the Rohru seat, defeating BJP's Shashi Bala by a little over 8000 votes. This is the twelfth time that the Congress party has won Rohru.
> Harshwardhan Chauhan
Congress leader Harshwardhan Chauhan won in Shillai by 4,125 votes against BJP candidate Baldev Singh.
Click here for LIVE updates on Himachal Pradesh Results 2017
In addition, BJP has retained power in Nachan (Vinod Kumar ), Nadaun (Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu), Churah (Hans Raj), Pachhad (Suresh Kumar Kashyap), Una (Satpal Singh Raizada), Hamirpur (Narinder Thakur), Dharampur (Mahender Singh), among others.
The seats it has wrested from the Congress include Jawali (Arjun Singh), Anni (Kishori Lal), Baijnath (Mulkh Raj), Bilaspur (Subhash Thakur), Mandi (Anil Sharma), Doon (Paramjeet Singh), Dharamshala (Kishan Kapoor), Jaisinghpur (Ravinder Kumar), Lahaul and Spiti (Ram Lal Markanda),Jubbal Kothkai (Narinder Bragta), among others.
On its part, the Congress unseated the BJP in constituencies such as Barsar, Kasumpti (Anirudh Singh), Shimla Rural (Vikramaditya Singh), Kangra (Pawan Kumar Kajal), Rampur (Nand Lal).
"Results are according to our expectations. We are heading towards the clear majority. We will form a government in both the states, in Himachal and Gujarat, with a clear majority. This victory will be attributed to the charisma of Modi," BJP leader Rajnath Singh told CNN-News18.
The Saffron party was in the lead since the counting started and it crossed the magic number, 35, around 9:30 am, taking a clear lead over the Congress.
BJP and Congress have been in alternating power in the state since 1990. In 2012, the Congress won 36 seats in the 68-seat Assembly, while the BJP won 26.
The Congress and the BJP are contesting all 68 seats while the BSP is contesting 42 seats, followed by the CPI(M) 14, Swabhiman Party and Lok Gathbandhan Party six each and the CPI-3.
Himachal Pradesh, where the polling was held on November 9, recorded its highest polling in assembly elections with 74 percent of voters exercising their franchise in 2017 Assembly Election, according to the Election Commission.
All the exit polls had predicted a clear BJP majority in both Himachal
Pradesh and Gujarat. Depending on which exit poll you go by, the BJP is expected to win between 38 and 55 seats in the state’s 68-member assembly.
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