Dharamshala, Oct 13 (PTI) Among the 12 districts inHimachal Pradesh, Kangra has the largest number of 15 assemblyconstituencies and holds the key in the November 9 election.
Kangra has historically drawn the interest of politicalparties. They have campaigned extensively in the district toensure their party's victory. Political pundits have kept aneye to gauge the mood of electors in the hilly state.
In the 2012 state polls, the Congress party won 10 seatsin Kangra, followed by the BJP at three.
The other districts that have a significant number ofassembly seats are: Mandi (10); and Shimla (8).
Together they can swing the election for any politicalparty.
Himachal Pradesh is set to witness an intense battlebetween the Congress and the BJP.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly, the rulingCongress has 35 members while the strength of the oppositionBJP is 28. There are four independents and one seat is vacant.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will fight for a seventhterm. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi last week declaredVirbhadra Singh as the party's next chief ministerial face,saying he will be chief minister for the seventh time.
The BJP will be fighting out on the back of a sweepingLok Sabha victory in 2014 in the state too and landslide winsin Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls in March.
On November 9, nearly 12 lakh electorates in the districtwould vote to choose their new representative to the assembly.
District returning officer C P Verma said as the districthas a boundary with Punjab, 18 inter-state checkposts havebeen created to paramilitary forces to check illegal movementof people.
He said the polling party to the mountainous Bara Bhangalarea shall be sent by a chopper.
The district has a total number of 1,553 pollingstations. He said the Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)machines will be used in the next elections for the first timein the state. PTI CORRABH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.