Kangana leading in Mandi; BJP ahead in all four LS seats in HP

Shimla: The BJP is ahead of the Congress in all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh, according to Election Commission trends.

BJP’s candidate from Mandi, actor Kangana Ranaut, is leading by a margin of 14,734 votes, while Union minister Anurag Thakur, seeking a fifth term from the Hamirpur seat, is ahead by a margin of 31,034 votes, as per the poll panel’s data.

Former Union minister and Congress candidate from Kangra seat, Anand Sharma, is trailing by 59,549 votes and former BJP state president and sitting BJP MP from Shimla seat, Suresh Kashyap, is leading by 19,873 votes.

Counting began at 8 am at 80 counting centres across the state for Himachal Pradesh’s four Lok Sabha seats and six assembly constituencies where bypolls were held, officials said.

The counting of votes began with postal ballots.

The outer and middle rings of the three-tier security cordon at the counting centres are being guarded by about 900 personnel of the police while the inner circle is manned by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), election officials said.

They added that 41 platoons of the CAPF have been deployed.

The bypolls were held on June 1, simultaneously with elections to the four Lok Sabha seats. The assembly constituencies where bypolls were held are Sujanpur, Dharamshala, Lahaul & Spiti, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar.