2017 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election :

1. The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017 was held on 9 November 2017 to elect all 68 members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

2. The term of previous Legislative Assembly ended on 7 January 2017. Since 2012, the Indian National Congress Party was in power in outgoing assembly with 36 seats. The lone opposition party was Bharatiya Janata Party.

3. The Constitution of India states that the term of Legislative Assemblies is five years, at maximum. The term of current Legislative Assembly ends on 7 January 2018. The previous election, held in 2012 resulted in Congress gaining majority of seats and Virbhadra Singh becoming Chief Minister.

4. Himachal Pradesh, as a state of India follows Parliamentary system of government similar to other states. The Government is responsible to the Assembly and stays in power only if it has the support of majority members. Elections take place on a first past the post basis, the candidate with the most votes wins the seat regardless of absolute majority.

5. Every citizen of the state, who is 18 and above is eligible to vote. The Governor then invites the leader of the largest party or coalition to form the government. As is common in most other first past the post electoral systems, the state's politics are dominated by two parties - the ruling Indian National Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

6. State elections in India are often fought on central issues, and the results are regarded as a referendum on the central government's policies. This is especially true in the case of states where the two national parties - Congress and BJP are in direct contest with each other. The state units of the parties are not completely independent and the central authority of the parties have a considerable influence over candidate selection and campaigning. However, state issues do tend to dominate the discourse. The Congress party has projected its current Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as its Chief Ministerial candidate for the elections. BJP announced Prem Kumar Dhumal as their Chief Ministerial candidate. Dhumal lost his seat from Sujanpur constituency.Eventually the BJP made Jairam Thakur the Chief Minister who won from the Seraj constituency

Preparations for elections :

VVPAT-fitted electronic voting machines were used in all of the 7,521 polling stations, the first time that the entire state will see the implementation of VVPAT to ensure greater transparency to the voter. Over 5 million voters are registered in the state. VVPAT slips were counted in 2 polling stations each across all 68 Himachal Pradesh constituencies.

India's first voter, Shyam Saran Negi, has voted for the 29th time at Kalpa polling station in Kinnaur. The state also has India's highest polling station at Hikkim, and the polling station with the least number of voters (six) at Ka in Kinnaur.

Group of voters                  Voters population

Male                                    2,531,321

Female                               2,457,032

Third gender                        169

Total voters                       5,025,541

A total of 37,83,580 people voted in the hill state , a record 75.28 per cent polling.

The state has alternately elected Congress and BJP governments since 1985. In 2012, the Congress won 36 seats and the BJP 26. Independents won six seats.