Candidates leading and trailing in Gujarat and Himachal from figures available so far.


Gujarat
Shaktisinh Gohil, Congress, trails
Jignesh Mevani, INDC, leads
Alpesh Thakore, Congess, leads
Jaynarayan Vyas, BJP, leads
Nitin Patel, BJP, trails
Pradipsinh Jadeja, BJP, leads
Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, BJP, leads
Indranil Rajguru, Congress, trails
Vijay Rupani, BJP, leads
Arjun Modhvadia, Congress, trails
Paresh Dhanani, Congress, leads
Jitu Vaghani, BJP, leads


Himachal Pradesh
Anil Sharma, BJP, leads
Satpal Singh Satti, BJP, leads
Virbhadra Singh, Congress, leads
 

Congress leader and six-time Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is fighting against former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to be the next head of the state.

In 2012, the Congress Party defeated the BJP and won an outright majority by winning 36 of the 68 seats under the leadership of Virbhadra Singh thus proving most of the pollsters and exit polls wrong, which had predicted a photo-finish.

The polling had recorded 74.61 per cent voter turnout, the highest-ever in the state. However, the exit polls had suggested a change of political guard in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.

Counting of votes started this morning for the high-stakes Gujarat Assembly polls, considered a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state and a litmus test for new Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

While the BJP is seeking a sixth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback in power after being in the opposition for over two decades.

The main contestants from the BJP are Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani (Rajkot West), Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel (Mehsana) and state BJP unit president Jitu Vaghani (Bhavnagar West).

The main contenders from the Congress are Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi), Arjun Modhvadia (Porbandar), Siddharth Patel (Dabhoi), and Paresh Dhanai (Amreli). OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress ahead of polls is fighting from Radhanpur seat, while Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani is contesting from Vadgam.