Himachal votes with India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi

Shimla :Led by India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi , the hill folk turned up in large numbers to vote across Himachal Pradesh .

Negi 97 voted in his scenic Kalpa village.
He has voted in all 16 general elections. A large crowd received him at the polling station .Negi was accompanied by his wife Hira Mani , 92.

“Around 65 per cent voters cast their ballot,” said the state chief electoral officer Narinder Chauhan.

There are 38 candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats Along with Congress and BJP ,AAP is also fighting all the seats in this single phase polling . By-polls were also held for the Sujanpur Tira assembly segment .

A total of 48,13,071 voters (24,77,430 male and 23,35,641 female), including 84,461 first-time voters, were eligible to cast their vote, They also include Tibetan refugees who voted for the first time.

At 15000 ft above sea level Hikkam is the highest polling station in the country in the tribal Spiti valley.

Prominent candidates are former chief minister Shanta Kumar from Kangra , the BJP’s yuva morcha president Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur and Pratibha Singh from Mandi .