Shimla, May 17
Polling is underway across Himachal Pradesh for elections to 51 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), where over 3.60 lakh voters are set to decide the fate of 1,147 candidates contesting for 449 wards, including the four key Municipal Corporations of Solan, Palampur, Dharamsala and Mandi.
The civic body elections are being closely watched as they are seen as a political test for the Congress government led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu ahead of the next Assembly elections. Polling is also being held for 25 municipal councils and 22 nagar panchayats across the state.
According to the State Election Commission, a total of 3,60,859 voters are eligible to cast their votes, including 1,808 first-time voters. Elections are being conducted on party symbols, resulting in a direct contest between the ruling Congress and the BJP in major urban centres.
At present, Congress controls the municipal corporations of Solan, Palampur and Dharamsala, while the BJP governs the Mandi Municipal Corporation.
Senior Counsel Sudhir Thakur alleged that several polling stations lacked proper facilities for differently-abled voters, causing inconvenience to physically challenged persons during voting.
Polling in some areas has also been affected by heatwave conditions and intermittent bad weather. In addition, voter turnout in semi-urban regions may be impacted as many farmers are presently engaged in harvesting Rabi crops.
Counting for municipal councils and nagar panchayats will begin immediately after polling, while results for the four municipal corporations will be declared on May 31.
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