Himachal Assembly Polls: BJP CM candidate Dhumal confident of victory with majority

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal on Thursday said that he is confident of the party's victory with majority, in the ongoing Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

Dhumal told ANI, "We aimed to get 50 plus seats, but now that we are receiving so much support from all sections of the society, we expect it to cross 60."

Meanwhile, BJP MP from Hamirpur and Dhumal's son Anurag Thakur launched an attack on the Congress Party by saying that the party has looted the hill state.

"Time has come, people have made up their mind to get rid of the Congress, who have looted Himachal Pradesh. The state needs a senior leader like Dhumal ji to look at the affairs of the state, which is under the debt of more than Rs 50,000 crore," Thakur said.

Dhumal and Thakur have already cast their votes that begun at 8 a.m. and will continue till 5 p.m.

Speaking about the Chief Ministerial candidates, Congress leader and incumbent Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is fighting against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Prem Kumar Dhumal, two-time Chief Minister of the state, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting 42 seats, followed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), which is contesting 14, Swabhiman Party and Lok Gathbandhan Party six each, and the CPI contesting three seats.

The main focus of the BJP campaigning was the corruption, while the Congress hit out at the Opposition regarding the issues of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) and demonetisation.

A total of 50, 25,941 voters are eligible to cast their vote and the polling will take place at 7,525 booths with EVMs and VVPAT.

The counting will be done on 18 December.