15.99 percent voting took place in the first two hours in Himachal

15.99 percent voting was recorded in the first two hours of voting for by-elections in three assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday.

Voting started at 7 am in 315 polling stations.

Election officials said that 15.70 percent voting took place in Dehra, 15.71 percent in Hamirpur and 16.48 percent in Nalagarh.

A total of 2,59,340 people are eligible to vote on the three assembly seats that fell vacant after voting in favor of three independent MLAs Hoshiar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh). Following the Rajya Sabha elections held on 27 February, BJP resigned from the House on 22 March.

He joined BJP the next day but his resignation was accepted by the Speaker on 3 June.

Their seats were declared vacant, necessitating by-elections. BJP has fielded all three independent MLAs from their respective seats.

The Congress has fielded Chief Minister’s wife Kamlesh Thakur from Dehra, reiterated its candidate Pushpinder Verma from Hamirpur and has given ticket to Hardeep Singh Baba, five-time president of the Himachal unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, from Nalagarh. BJP candidates Singh and Thakur and Congress candidate Bawa were among the early voters.

Speaking to PTI, Singh said this is a fight between the “corrupt” Congress government in the state and the innocent and honest people of Dehar.

Claiming that he has been followed by plainclothes police for the past few days and his supporters have been indirectly threatened, he alleged that the Congress government was misusing the official machinery.