Wait till the results are announced: CM Baghel on latest ECI trends

RAIPUR: The election observer of Congress for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday expressed hopes of forming government in the hill state judging by the ongoing ECI trends. Baghel, while addressing mediapersons also stressed his apprehensions of horse-trading of the Congress MLAs.

"Though Congress is leading in many constituencies in Himachal, there is a neck-and-neck competition at many others. We should wait till the election results are announced as the counting is still underway," Bhupesh Baghel said in his address to mediapersons in Raipur.

While mentioning that he will go to the hill state via the national capital, Baghel expressed hopes and said their expectation of forming a government in Himachal "appears to be coming true".

When asked if the Himachal MLAs will be brought to Raipur amid the apprehensions of 'horse-trading', Baghel said that they need to be cautious.

As per the latest trends by the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the Himachal Pradesh election results, the Congress is leading in 39 of the 68 assembly seats in Himachal.

In the first result to come out of Himachal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to register a victory in Sundernagar as its candidate Rakesh Kumar gained a total of 29432 votes, against Congress' Sohan Lal who got 21307 votes.

Further talking about the election trends in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel underlined that it would be inappropriate to speak anything about the results on the basis of trends "We should wait till the counting ends.

As no one knows which box has been opened and there comes a difference in the second and third rounds of vote counting, we should wait till the results are out as Gujarat is a big state so it would have comparatively many rounds," he said.

Notably, in Gujarat, the ruling BJP is all set to retain power in the state as the trends showed the party leading on 152 seats with two wins. The BJP, if it manages to win 150 seats in the state, will not only thrash its own record of winning the highest ever by the party in the 2002 Assembly elections with 127 seats but also break the record of 149 seats which Congress' Madhav Singh Solanki government managed to create in 1985.

The exit polls had suggested that the BJP will come to power for the seventh time in the state with a thumping majority. The counting of votes for both the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am.

The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts. While in Himachal, there are 68 counting halls in 59 locations across the state. Earlier on December 1 and 5, Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases.

The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase of the Gujarat elections was recorded at 59.11 per cent. During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent. While polling for 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12 The approximate voter turnout in Himachal polls recorded 75.6 per cent turnout, breaking the 2017 record. Meanwhile, the exit polls have indicated a clear win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.

Both BJP and Congress have claimed victory in the state of Himachal Pradesh which has had a tradition of changing governments for the past several years. According to the exit polls predicted on Monday in Himachal Pradesh, BJP has the edge over Congress in a tough fight.

While most exit polls predicted that BJP will likely retain Himachal Pradesh, one exit poll predicted Congress to lead in the sweepstakes to form government in the hill state.

BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remaining in the Chief Minister's post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister.

Congress gave a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly elections in 2017. However, AAP may spoil the game for Congress by taking away a significant vote share in their favour.