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Himachal Pradesh

Shimla: Neck & neck for BJP, Congress in Himachal

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Photo Credit : IANS

Shimla: As Himachal Pradesh has not returned any incumbent government to power in nearly four decades, early trends of ballot count of the first two hours on Thursday December 8 indicated ‘see-sawing’ trends with both the ruling BJP and the main Opposition Congress in the 68-member Assembly were neck and neck.

Trends at around 10.15 a.m. showed that the Congress was leading in 31 seats with the BJP on equal number. Four independents were also leading from their respective constituencies.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, 57, was leading in his stronghold Seraj in Mandi district. Likewise, Congress prominent leaders Mukesh Agnihotri, 60, and Sukhvinder Sukhu, 58, were leading from Haroli and Nadaun seats respectively.

As most exit poll surveys have predicted a tight contest between the incumbent BJP and the opposition Congress, with the former holding a slight edge, the results will decide the fate of many senior leaders of both the parties.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in the fray for the first time in the Assembly polls, has been missing from the state with its leaders focusing on strengthening its vote bank in Gujarat.

Despite AAP presence, the political scenario in the state seems so far largely bipolar — a tug-of-war between the two conventional archrivals — the Congress and the saffron party.

Sensing a neck and neck contest between the BJP and the Congress, rebels, who had broken ties with the mainstream parties, have started holding ‘in-door’ parleys with a belief that in politics there is no permanent enemy or friend.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main Opposition Congress have also begun an exercise to keep its numbers in ‘order’ in case of hung House.

Insiders told IANS that leaders of both parties were trying to sink their differences with the party rebels, whose numbers are nearly 20, to improve the party’s prospects.

The fear of exodus of lawmakers from the Congress was high.

BJP set to break own records in Gujarat Assembly polls

Gandhinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party was all set to break its records of winning in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

At around 10.55 a.m., the BJP was leading on 149 seats.

The Congress witnessed a steep fall and was leading only on 19 seats.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was leading in nine constituencies.

The BJP had set a target to break all previous records. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in each meeting was appealing to the voters to vote for the BJP and break all old records.

Party’s big faces like Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Harsh Sanghvi, Jitu Vaghani, Rishikesh Patel, Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor were leading in their respective Assembly seats.

Victory in Gujarat will make the BJP the only party other than the CPI(M) to have won seven straight Assembly polls. The CPI(M), which ruled West Bengal for 34 years from 1977 to 2011, had also won seven straight elections.

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