Record turnout in Himachal polls

Shimla: A record over 74 per cent, highest in four decades, of Himachal Pradesh’s 50.25 lakh electorate on Thursday exercised their franchise in the assembly elections where the ruling Congress and the BJP were locked in a straight contest.
“The percentage is expected to go up further. This is the highest poll percentage recorded by the hill state in assembly polls,” Dilip Sharma, Director General, Election Commission, told reporters in New Delhi.
Election officials said the polling was peaceful and no major untoward incident was reported from the 68 seats.
However, there were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines at a few polling booths, which led voting continuing at these booths even after the polls officially closed at 5 pm.
A total of 337 candidates, 19 of them women, are in the fray. (IANS)