Polling for the second phase of elections in Mandi parliamentary constituency began on Thursday in Himachal Pradesh’s rain-ravaged Kinnaur district.
Electors could be seen reaching polling stations even before voting started at 8 a.m. The vote cast will continue till 5 p.m.
“There has been no report of any delay in starting the poll process,” State Chief Electoral Officer Narender Chauhan told IANS.
He said 52,345 electors, including 25,285 women, would cast votes in 118 polling booths.
The Election Commission had postponed voting in the landslide-hit Kinnaur district as it was cut off from the rest of the State owing to torrential rains during June 16-18.
However, polling in the remaining 16 segments of the Mandi parliamentary constituency was held on June 23 and it recorded nearly 52 per cent voter turnout.
The counting of votes will be held simultaneously on June 30.
The bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh relinquished the seat on his election to the State Assembly in December 2012.
The Mandi constituency, which includes Kullu, Mandi and some areas of Chamba and Shimla districts, besides the tribal-dominated assembly constituencies of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, is one of the biggest in the country.
