Himachal Pradesh Elections 2017: BJP set to rout Congress in hill state, says opinion poll

Shimla: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will wrest power from the ruling Congress by winning a two-thirds majority in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, an opinion poll said on Tuesday.

The BJP will win 43-47 seats while the Congress will bag 21-25 seats, the India Today-Axis My India Opinion poll said.

The elections to the state assembly will be held on November 9 and the results would be declared on December 18. The Himachal polls are seen as a barometer of support for PM Narendra Modi-led BJP.

BJP has released a list of star campaigners for the assembly elections that includes PM Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani and Uma Bharti, among others.

The party's prominent local faces for its campaign include ex-CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur. Prominent BJP leaders such as national spokesman Sambit Patra and Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti are also among the star campaigners of the party.

Chief Minister and Congress leader Virbhadra Singh is contesting from Arki, while his son Vikramaditya Singh is also likely to be in the fray from Shimla (Rural) seat.

During a public meeting in Mandi town on October 7, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had said that Virbhadra Singh will lead the party in the elections. “He (Virbhadra Singh) will become the chief minister for the seventh time," he declared.