The polling has breached the polling percentage of 2017, which was 74.61 percent, which was the highest ever recorded in electoral history of Himachal. 

In 2017, the voters have voted out the then ruling Congress with the BJP winning 44 seats.  It was ditto in 2003 as well, when the then BJP-HVC government was voted out by the voters  recording 73 per cent polling.  

This time old pension scheme, freebies announcements for  women and jobs to youth both by BJP and Congress, the rising prices and unemployment issues flagged by the Congress  rocked the poll arena. 

BJP put all its might into the campaign, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing over seven rallies- four addressed during  the election tour.  

Even as both Congress and BJP are making claims and counter claims, but the voting trends of the past elections indicate disadvantage for the ruling party and opposition's weak candidates as well in all cases of heavy polling, comment the pollsters.

Like in 2017, there could be big surprises in 2022 results as well when the results would be out on December 8, say the pollsters.

The real worry for the BJP and partly for the Congress is the presence of 28 rebels including couple of other strong independents.

The stakes for the BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur are the higher as the 2022 elections were fought under their leadership.

It is the first recent election that was fought without the active support of Prof PK Dhumal and his camp as Jagat Prakash Nadda and Jai Ram Thakur  hogged the limelight both in deciding candidates and in leading the campaign in the state.

Most of the rebels belong to the Dhumal camp or his  suppoterts. Even himself Nadda found it difficult to convince Subhash Sharma, his protege and   BJP MLA from Bilaspur sadar,  to withdraw from the contest in favour of Trilok Jamwal, a key Nadda's man, said a BJP Karyakarta.

He is Contesting as an independent and would damage Jamwal.

The story is no different in segments where BJP wanted to beat anti incumbency and ruthlessly shifted its ministers to other segments, where they unleashed new power struggle among the karyakartas. 

Congress MLAs Lakhwinder Rana and Pawan Kajal joined BJP and got tickets upsetting BJP leaders and workers in Nalagarh and Kangra. 

There is question mark over this surgery of the BJP whether or not it would pay its dividend the way it paid in Uttarakhand elections.     

No Doubt, Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah put their might behind the campaign, but the BJP seemed to overdo its  "Vikas ka Double Engine" slogan, which might or might  not have caught the fancy of the simple Paharis of Himachal Pradesh, comment BJP karyakartas.

They countered  the Congress campaign led by Priyanka Gandhi, PCC President Pratibha Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, Sachin Pilot, Rajiv Shukla, Alka Lamba including Sukhwinder Sukhu, Mukesh Agnihotri and  Vikramaditya Singh and Sanjay Dutta and others  in the state.      

But the most of election meetings were addressed by Pratibha Singh and Vikramaditya  mainly where the "Virbhadra Singh supporters" are contesting,  as far as state leaders are  concerned.

Priyanka Gandhi  played up the role of "Indira Gandhi-DrYS Parmar and Virbhadra"  trinity as the modern makers of Himachal Pradesh.

Congress leaders played up the Virbhadra sympathy card"  to seek sympathy votes as messages were viral on social media and graffiti and hoardings were set up at key points in many constituencies by candidates. 

In the Shimla urban Congress candidate Harish Janartha faced a   triangular contest with BJP Sanjay Sood and CPIM Tikender Panwar, former deputy Mayor.  

Janartha got support of Adarsh Sood  Manoj Kumar, Jenny Prem and local former  councilors. 

But Anand Sharma group including Naresh Chauhan, Mahender Chauhan, Maheshwar Singh Pandu,  Chaudhary and Harbhajan Bhajji were conspicuous by their absence in the campaign.

Shimla Urban witnessed the  lowest voters turnout of 62.5 percent. The  results would reflect these factors, but Janartha suppoterts are hopeful to break the ice this time as he fought two elections one as an independent in the past, but lost by narrow margins due to  undercutting.

In Shimla Rural where Vikramaditya Singh is seeking reelection for thecsecondvtime is also being watched closely by pundits.

He is not only fighting it alone his own battle, but he is also carving out a niche for himself as new leader of the Congress in the post-Virbhadra Era of politics. 

As such Vikramaditya is confident of securing a lead over his BJP rival,  hopes to win the seat by good margin over BJP new comer Ravi Mehta as BJP denied ticket to Dr Pramod Sharma, who had fought against him and his father Virbhadra Singh a valiant battle. 

In Kasumpti Suresh Bhardwaj was shifted from Shimla much to his displeasure. BJP dumped him in Kasumpti to beat anti-incumbency. 

He is locked in triangular fight with Congress Anirudh Singh and CPIM Dr Kuldip Singh Tanwar.

All the candidates in the ring tried to bring out the voters to put up their best foot forward.  

The higher percentage of voters in Sirmaur is being viewed as the result of the Hatti politics over the ST status accorded to the Hatti community of Trans Giri region for the first time.

Another factor is more women voters exercised the votes this time as compared with men- 76.8 and  72.4 per cent. Congress offers women Rs 1500 per month as a direct assistance, while BJP promised them Stree  Shakti scheme to empower them. 

The voters came in support or against as bot the rival BJP and Congress tried to bring out their voters in their support.  

But the voters have given a real taste of power to the rival parties as they had kept their cards close to their chest with the recalcitrant employees voting as per their anger. 

It will be hypothetical to predict a win win situation for any political party or 412  candidates who had tried their best to woo the voters.

The truth will be unveiled on December 8, when the ECI would start the counting and declared the polling results.  

But the voters and activism shown by the team of ECI  Rajiv Kumar and CEO, Himachal Pradesh  Manish Garg and his team of officials,  have created history by recording 75 per cent polling, which is the highest in Himachal. 

From Tashigang to Chask Bhatori, the voters came out in the sunshine and cast their votes in a spirit of a festival.  

Snowbound  Lahaul-Spiti,  all in all, has recorded 74 per cent polling, which is one of highest every.

As many as 52 Spitians  came out in their traditional tribal dress to  cast their votes at  Tashigang,  world's highest polling booth located at 15, 265 ft. in  Spiti valley of Himalayan Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. 

Tashigang recorded cent percent polling as all  52 voters cast their votes, said Sumit Khimta, District Returning of officer-cum-collector, Lahaul-Spiti. 

In snowclad Pangi valley of Bharmour constituency, out of 93 voters, 70 voters cast their votes at Chask Bhatori, which had experienced snowfall two days ago.

Election Commission of India Rajiv Kumar said there 100 polling stations located above 10,000 ft in state. The polling is peaceful and voters are enjoying the festival of democracy even at the world's highest pooling booth at Tashigang,  he said. 

Seraj, home segment of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has recorded 82.10 per cent polling till last report,  Shillai 84.1 in Sirmaur, the hotbed of Hatti politics and Doon in Solan have recorded heaviest polling in  this election.  

In the higher areas polling in the morning hours was on lover side due to the cold, while in upper areas polling was on higher side.

District Shimla: 72.26 

Sirmaur District 80.71 

District Mandi 75.42

District Bilaspur 76.6