HAMIRPUR: Over 63 percent voting was reported in Bhoranj (SC) assembly by-election in Himachal Pradesh which went to polls today.
Barring reports of some snag in EVMs which delayed voting by an hour, the polling process remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the constituency.
The polling started on a moderate note at 8.00 AM but picked up after 10.00 AM and 47 per cent polling was reported till 2.00 PM. The final report of polling at 5.00 pm was 63.26 percent, Chief Electoral Officer Narinder Chauhan said.
Long queues of voters with women outnumbering men were seen at the polling booths during the day.
The seat was formerly held by BJP stalwart Ishwar Dass Dhiman who had won six successive elections from the constituency since 1990. The by-election was necessitated by his death in November last year.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also claimed that the Congress would wrest the Bhoranj seat, a party bastion.
There are five candidates in the fray but the main contest is between Dhiman of BJP and Promila Devi of Congress. Of the three Independents in the fray, Pawan Chandel and Romesh Dogra are rebels of BJP and Congress, respectively.
Women voters (38,205) outnumbered men (37,514) in this assembly segment dominated by ex-servicemen. The counting of votes would take place on April 11.
Former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who cast his vote at Smirpur polling station, expressed confidence of a landslide victory for BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman.
He added the that outcome would be trend-setter and the BJP would also sweep the Shimla municipal corporation polls slated next month and repeat the same in assembly polls to be held in November this year.