Polling underway for lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh

Polling is underway for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh.

The polling began at 9 am and Independent MLA from Hamipur Ashish was the first to cast his vote.

The polling was brisk and 64 out of the 68 members had cast their votes by 11 am.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh and Congress MLA from Chintpurni Sudershan Babloo who fell ill on Monday are yet to cast their votes.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur has said that it was the democratic right of the MLAs to vote and it was not necessary that the candidate be elected unopposed.

"We have fielded the candidate gauging the situation and hope that all MLAs would exercise their conscious vote," he added.

The BJP has fielded Harsh Mahajan against Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Mahajan, a three-time Congress MLA and former minister, had resigned from the party in September 2022 ahead of the assembly polls and joined the BJP.

The Congress has a clear majority with 40 out of the 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs.