Himachal civic elections 2026: Voting underway across 51 urban local bodies; 1,147 candidates in fray

SHIMLA: Voting for civic body elections across Himachal Pradesh began on Sunday morning, with voters turning out steadily as polling continued for 51 urban local bodies, including four municipal corporations.Polling started at 7 am at 589 polling stations for the urban local body elections being held in the municipal corporations of Dharamshala, Mandi, Solan and Palampur, along with 25 municipal councils and 22 nagar panchayats. Voting will continue till 3 pm.According to election officials, an overall voter turnout of 14 per cent was recorded till 9 am. Mandi municipal corporation recorded 15.42 per cent turnout in the first two hours, while Jogindernagar reported 17.10 per cent and Rampur 14.58 per cent.The elections are being conducted simultaneously for 64 wards in the four municipal corporations, 229 wards in municipal councils and 156 wards in nagar panchayats.A total of 1,147 candidates are contesting for 449 posts across the state. The electorate comprises 3,60,859 voters, including 1,80,963 men, 1,79,882 women and 14 voters in the “others” category. Among them are 1,808 first-time voters, including 961 men and 847 women.State election commissioner Anil Khachi had earlier said elaborate security arrangements were made in coordination with the police and home department to ensure peaceful polling. The state government also declared a paid holiday for employees in both government and private sectors to encourage voter participation.The Himachal Pradesh state election commission said awareness campaigns and election-related updates were circulated through the Information and Public Relations Department, Akashvani and Doordarshan to maximise voter outreach.Counting of votes for municipal councils and nagar panchayats will begin immediately after polling concludes on Sunday, while votes for the four municipal corporations will be counted on May 31.Meanwhile, preparations are also underway for the three-phase Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) elections scheduled for May 26, 28 and 30. Polling in the rural body elections will also take place from 7 am to 3 pm through ballot papers and ballot boxes.According to the state election ocmmission, the PRI election process began with the notification issued on April 29. Nomination papers were filed between May 7 and 11, followed by scrutiny on May 12 and 13. The final list of candidates was released on May 15 after withdrawals and allotment of election symbols.The Commission said 86,725 nomination papers were filed for the PRI polls, of which 793 were rejected during scrutiny. Another 15,708 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 70,224 candidates in the fray.Kangra district recorded the highest number of candidates with 17,643 contestants, followed by Mandi with 11,728 candidates. Shimla has 6,118 candidates in the contest, while Chamba recorded 7,315 contestants.Hamirpur has 4,849 candidates contesting the PRI elections, followed by Una with 4,755, Bilaspur with 4,145, Solan with 4,195 and Kullu with 4,098 candidates. Sirmaur recorded 3,919 candidates, while tribal districts Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti reported the lowest participation with 1,034 and 425 candidates respectively.