TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The Congress has surged ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party, winning one seat and leading on 38 others out of the 68 seats while the ruling party has won two seats and is ahead on 24, according to early trends from Himachal Pradesh where counting of votes cast in the assembly polls is in progress. Independent candidates were ahead on three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party, which had fielded candidates on 67 seats, is yet to open its account, according to the Election Commission.
The result of one seat of Sundernagar in Mandi district has been declared where BJP’s Rakesh Jamwal, who is the sitting MLA, has defeated his nearest Congress rival by a margin of 8,125 votes. Candidates who are leading include Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from Seraj, Ministers Bikram Singh (Jaswant Paragpur), Ram Lal Markande (Lahaul-Spiti), Rakesh Pathania (Fatehpur) and Speaker and BJP leader Vipin Singh Parmar (Sullah). BJP’s Puran Chand (Darang), former minister Narender Bragata’s son Chetan Bragata (Jubbal Kotkhai) and former Union minister Sukh Ram’s son Anil Sharma (Mandi Sadar) are among those leading.
Congress leader Mukesh Agnihotri, who is the leader of opposition in the state assembly, is leading from Haroli, while former state Congress chief Kuldeep Rathore (Theog), former minister Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala), and Dhani Ram Shandil (Solan) too are ahead of their rivals. Others who are leading include Congress’ Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur, Vikramaditya Singh, son of late chief minister Virbhadra Singh, from Shimla Rural, and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu from Naudan. Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and K L Thakur from Nalagarh are among the Independents who are leading.
