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The counting of votes will begin at 8 am in Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul-Spiti district. First the postal ballot will be counted. Counting of closed votes in EVM will start after 8.30 am. Being a tribal area, there is no problem due to snowfall or weather etc. Therefore, the counting center for counting of votes for Lahaul-Spiti seat has been set up at Bhuntar in Kullu district.
This time only 3 candidates are in the fray for Lahaul-Spiti seat and Himachal has the least number of candidates on this seat. A total of 89 employees have been put on duty for counting of votes here. Counting on Lahaul-Spiti seat will be completed in 10 rounds. The first trend from this seat is expected by 9.30 am.
The area of Lahaul-Spiti used to remain cut off from the rest of the world for 6 months before the Atal Tunnel was built because the Rohtang Pass connecting this area by road was closed due to snowfall. After the construction of Atal Tunnel, this area remains connected by road for 12 months. Because of this, life has become a bit easier here.
This time 73.75% voting
Lahaul-Spiti is the smallest assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh in terms of voters. The total population of this seat is 32 thousand and there are 24744 voters. During the voting held on November 12, a total of 73.74% voting took place in this seat. Out of total 12293 male voters, 9320 exercised their franchise while out of total 12451 female voters, 8973 cast their votes. The world’s tallest polling booth Tashigang is built in the Lahaul-Spiti assembly seat itself. Tashigang is at an altitude of 15256 feet. There are only 92 voters at this booth.
This time also Markanda-Thakur-Jaspa face to face
The big faces who are in fray this time from Lahaul-Spiti seat include Dr. Ramlal Markanda on BJP ticket and Congress candidate Ravi Thakur. Dr. Ramlal Markanda was a minister in the Jairam government. From this seat, the Aam Aadmi Party has given ticket to Sudarshan Jaspa, who contested the 2017 assembly elections from this seat as an independent candidate. Although Jaspa got only 655 votes then. Sudarshan Jaspa is the President of Lahaul Potato Society – Asia’s largest potato producing society.
Snowfall does not cause problems, so out of the counting district
After the polling on November 12, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) of Lahaul-Spiti seat were taken to the strong room set up at Bhuntar in Kullu district. Lahaul-Spiti is a tribal area and snowfall has started here.
Due to the weather, there was no problem in counting, so the Election Commission had already sent EVMs to Bhuntar. The para military force was stationed outside the strong room for 24 hours from 12 November itself. As per the instructions of the Election Commission, after the completion of counting today, all EVMs will be kept safe for 45 days.
BJP’s Markanda won in 2017
In the 2017 assembly elections, Dr. Ramlal Markanda of BJP had won the Lahaul-Spiti seat. He defeated Ravi Thakur of Congress. In 2017, Dr. Markanda got total 7556 votes and Ravi Thakur got 6278 votes. Now after 5 years both the leaders are once again face to face.