Himachal Pradesh Election Results 2022: The see-saw battle between BJP and Congress is expected to come to an end soon as the grand old party has started waving flags of victory in Himachal Pradesh, taking lead on as many as 39 seats.
Congress party, which was expected to trail behind the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), has taken a significant lead over the ruling government, expected to win around 37 seats in total, while BJP is leading from around 27 seats, as per early trends.
Independent candidates were ahead on three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 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.
BJP leader and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur is leading from the Seraj seat and is expected to be the CM face for the party if it ends up pulling through the gap to establish a majority in Himachal Pradesh.
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 the 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.
Despite trailing behind by a significant margin, BJP has expressed confidence in winning the Himachal Pradesh elections 2022 after all.
"In the early trends, the BJP was ahead. The party will retain power in the state and change the tradition (of the alternate government trend). We are confident of winning," Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Suresh Kashyap said, as per PTI reports.
The counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh election 2022 results is expected to go on till 5:30 pm on December 8, with the Congress party expected to take lead by at least eight seats in the final vote counts.
(With PTI inputs)
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