With sun, HP voters warm up to exercise rights

Barring isolated incidents of frayed tempers leading to verbal altercations, polling for 65 out of the 68 Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh...

Barring isolated incidents of frayed tempers leading to verbal altercations, polling for 65 out of the 68 Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh today ended peacefully, recording a heavy turnout of close to 70 per cent.

The polling, which took off on a slow note at 8 am, picked up pace by the afternoon. Voters wearing their traditional dresses came to the polling stations in groups.

Reports received here showed that polling picked up faster in the rural areas than the urban areas. Though it was partially cloudy with a cold wave in the upper areas of the state, sun shone bright, keeping the weather pleasant and helping the state record a comparatively heavy turnout.

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At select polling booths, heated exchanges were witnessed between polling agents belonging to various rival political parties.

One person was rounded up by Bilaspur police in Geharwin constituency for attempting to disrupt the polling.

‘‘He was found to be an insane and was released later,’’ stated SP Bilaspur Atul Verma. Minor altercations also took place in Solan, Kullu and Shimla.

There were numerous complaints from voters finding their names missing from the voters’ lists. ‘‘I had the I-card issued by the EC but my name did not figure in the list and they were saying I can not cast my votes. It is ridiculous,’’ lamented Paras Ram, a resident of Theog town who, along with his wife Sawitri Devi, could not cast his vote.

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Voting was held for 391 candidates in the fray for 10th state Assembly. The candidates included 65 of the Congress, 65 of the BJP, 49 of the HVC, 22 of the BSP and 17 of the NCP besides Independents. For the 68 member-House, voting took place for the 65 constituencies as the three segments were snowbound.

Main political leaders in the fray include Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal from Bamson in Hamirpur, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh from Rohru in Shimla, BJP state chief Jai Kishan Sharma and HP Congress Committee chief Vidya Stokes from Kumarsain in Shimla.