Shimla: The fate of 38 candidates contesting from Himachal Pradesh's four Lok Sabha seats and four nominees in the fray for Sujanpur Assembly bypoll will be declared on Friday after counting of votes, for which all necessary arrangements have been put in place.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the 16 counting centres - one each in all 12 district headquarters and four additional centres at Rampur, Palampur, Nurpur and Paonta Sahib. Sixty-six halls have been set up to take up the counting of 66 out of 68 Assembly segments simultaneously.
Entry of people within 100 metres of counting centres has been barred and no other person except polling officials, candidates and their authorised counting agents would be allowed inside the counting centres.
Three-tier security with central paramilitary forces in the innermost circle, state armed forces in the middle circle and district police in the outer circle have been deployed to avoid any trouble.
Former chief minister Shanta Kumar, former chief minister PK Dhumal's son and sitting BJP MP from Hamirpur seat Anurag Thakur, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife and sitting MP from Mandi seat Pratibha Singh, rebel BJP MP from Kangra and AAP candidate Rajan Sushant and BJP MP from Shimla Virender Kashyap are among prominent contestants.
There are 12 candidates in Kangra, 10 in Hamirpur, nine in Mandi and seven in Shimla (reserve) constituency. The state's overall polling percentage was 65.18.
Hamirpur recorded highest turnout of 67.88 per cent, followed by Kangra 64.62 per cent, Shimla 64.45 per cent, and Mandi 63.60 per cent.
Results of Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi constituencies are expected by afternoon, while the result of Shimla (reserve) seat would be the last to be declared, officials said.
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