Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: Voting date, timings, seats, full schedule, candidates, constituencies; all you need to know

Himachal Assembly Election 2022: Himachal Pradesh will go to polls in a single phase on Saturday, November 12. The campaigning for the assembly elections ended on Thursday and now all eyes are on ballots and voting machines where the fate of candidates from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, AAP, and other parties will be sealed tomorrow (Saturday).

For the ruling party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the charge against the Congress, which is looking to make a comeback. From the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the campaign in absence of former party chief Rahul Gandhi who is currently on a months-long Bharat Jodo Yatra. The AAP was steered by its convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann.  

Also Read | Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 Date: Full schedule, result, number of seats; everything you need to know
 

Himachal Elections 2022: Here's all you need to know

Himachal Election 2022: Polling Timing 

Voting will start at 8 am and will continue till 5:30 pm

Himachal Elections: Key parties in the fray

Himachal Pradesh has so far seen a bipolar contest between the BJP and Congress. However, this time AAP's entry could make the contest triangular in some assembly segments. Besides these three parties, other parties contesting the polls are the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP). The BJP, Congress, and AAP are contesting on all 68 seats, while CPIM is fighting on 11, CPI 1, BSP 53, and RDP 29.

Himachal Elections: How parties fared in 2017

BJP: 44 
Congress: 21  
Independents: 2
CPIM: 1

The BJP had defeated the then-ruling Congress by bagging 44 seats with nearly 49 per cent votes. The Congress, on the other hand, got 21 of 68 with nearly 42 per cent votes. The AAP had not contested the polls last time. The Congress witnessed over 1 per cent decline in its vote share from what it had got in the previous term while the BJP recorded jump of over 10 per cent - the majority of them were from independent candidates.

Himachal Elections: What opinion polls have predicted

ABP News-CVoter Survey 

BJP: 31-46
Congress: 29-37 
AAP: 0-1

The majority of polls have predicted a comfortable majority for the BJP with seats ranging from 31 to 46. The latest poll by ABP News-CVoter published on November 9 predicted 31 to 39 seats for the BJP, 29 to 37 for the Congress, and 0-1 seats for the AAP. India TV-Matrize opinion poll has predicted 41 seats for BJP and 25 for Congress. ABP's initial two surveys had given a clear majority to the ruling party with seats ranging from 37 to 46.    

Himachal Elections 2022: Key leaders 

From BJP, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur is leading the charge against Mukesh Agnihotri of the Congress. Among the key seats are Seraj, Haroli, Mandi, Shimla Rural, and Hamirpur. BJP's sitting chief minister is contesting from Seraj, while Congress state chief Agnihotri is contesting from Haroli. Former CM Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh is trying his luck from Shimla Rural. Hamirpur is another key seat as it comes under the Hamir Pur Lok Sabha constituency which has been with the BJP since 1998. Union Minister Anurag Thakur is the sitting MP from Hamirpur.  

Himachal Elections 2022: Key constituencies

Seraj: Jai Ram Thakur (BJP) vs Chetram Thakur (Congress) vs Gita Nand Thakur (AAP)
Haroli: Ramkumar (BJP) vs Mukesh Agnihotri (Congress) vs Ravinder Pal Singh Mann (AAP)
Shimla Rural: Ravi Mehta (BJP) vs Vikramaditya Singh (Congress) vs Prem Thakur (AAP)
Mandi: Anil Sharma (BJP) vs Champa Thakur (Congress) vs Shyam Lal (AAP)
Hamirpur: Narinder Thakur (BJP) vs Pushpendra Verma (Congress) vs Shushil Kumar Surroch (AAP).
 
Himachal Elections: Number of electorates

There are a total of 55,74,793 electorates. Of these, 55,07,261 are general voters while 67,532 are service voters. Also, there are 43,173 young voters who attained the age of 18 years between 1st January 2022 and 1st October 2022.

Himachal Elections: Documents required at polling stations

For identification of voters at the polling station, a person needs to present his or her EPIC or any of the identification documents listed below.

• Aadhaar Card
• MNREGA Job Card
• Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office
• Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour
• Driving License
• PAN card
• Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR (National Population Register)
• Indian Passport
• Pension document with photograph
• Service I-cards with photographs issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies
• I-cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs
• Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card
• Polling station

The EC has set a limit of a maximum of 1500 electors in a polling station. This time, the commission has set up 7,881 polling stations in the state.

Himachal Election Results Date 

The results for Himachal Pradesh will be declared along with Gujarat on December 8.