TNI Bureau: The counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections began at 8.00 am on Thursday morning. The fate of 459 candidates for all 68 assembly seats will be decided during the day.

Nearly 74 percent of the 4.6 million electors exercised their franchise on November 4.

The main contest is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

Incumbent Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal of the BJP is aiming for a second term while Congress’ Virbhadra Singh, a five-time chief minister, is looking for a bounce back to the Office.

In 2007, the BJP won 41 seats, the Congress 23, the Bahujan Samaj Party one seat and independents three seats.

At present, at 9 am, BJP is ahead of Congress by leading in 7 seats.