Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda on Thursday said the Congress will form its government in Himachal Pradesh going by the present election result trends…reports Asian Lite News
Himachal Pradesh has followed the tradition of alternating governments in the past four decades and the Congress and the BJP were directly pitted against each other in the hill state. Congress is looking to form the next government in the 68 member state assembly as it was leading in 40 seats, according to data on the Election Commission website.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda on Thursday said the Congress will form its government in Himachal Pradesh going by the present election result trends.
“As per trends, we are going to form our government in Himachal Pradesh. I would be leaving soon for Shimla along with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla,” Hooda said.
The Congress has asked Hooda, Baghel and Shukla to leave for Shimla and keep its flock of MLAs together and hold consultations for government formation there.
The Congress had campaigned extensively in Himachal Pradesh, urging voters to maintain the tradition of voting out the incumbent.
The election observer of Congress for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday expressed hopes of forming government in the hill state judging by the ongoing ECI trends.
Baghel, while addressing mediapersons also stressed his apprehensions of horse-trading of the Congress MLAs.
“Though Congress is leading in many constituencies in Himachal, there is a neck-and-neck competition at many others. We should wait till the election results are announced as the counting is still underway,” Bhupesh Baghel said in his address to mediapersons in Raipur.
While mentioning that he will go to the hill state via the national capital, Baghel expressed hopes and said their expectation of forming a government in Himachal “appears to be coming true”.
When asked if the Himachal MLAs will be brought to Raipur amid the apprehensions of ‘horse-trading’, Baghel said that they need to be cautious.
BJP crosses 150 mark in Gujarat
Bharatiya Janata Party is currently leading on 152 seats in the latest trends as the counting of votes is progressing, thus clearly indicating that the party is simultaneously breaking its own record of 127 seats and also shattering the highest previous electoral record of 147 achieved by the Madhav Singh Solanki Congress government in 1985.
The BJP is leading on 152 seats, according to the latest trends on all the 182 seats by the Election Commission till 11 am. The BJP, if manages to win 152 seats in the state, will not only thrash its own record of winning the highest ever by the party in the 2002 Assembly elections with 127 seats but also break record of getting the highest number of seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 1985 by the Congress’ Madhav Singh Solanki government which had won 149 seats.
The exit polls had suggested that the BJP will come to power for the seventh time in the state with a thumping majority.
The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am.
The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts.
Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi said that 182 counting observers, 182 election officers and 494 assistant election officers are on duty for the counting process. There will be an additional 78 Assistant Election Officers for the counting of votes. In addition, 71 additional Assistant Election Officers have been assigned responsibility for the electronically transmitted postal ballot system in the previous polls
Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 respectively.
The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase of the Gujarat elections was recorded at 59.11 per cent.
During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. While polling for 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12.
Meanwhile, the exit polls have indicated a clear win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.
BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remaining in the Chief Minister’s post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister. Congress gave a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly elections in 2017. However, AAP may spoil the game for Congress by taking away a significant vote share in their favour. (ANI)
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