Shimla: The ruling BJP is set to retain both Dharamshala and Pachhad seats in Himachal Pradesh where bypolls were held on Monday, a state election official said.
After the fifth round of counting, Vishal Nehriya of the BJP is leading with 8,162 votes over his nearest rival Vijay Inder Karan (5607 votes) of the Congress in Dharamshala.
In Pachhad, Reena Kashyap of the BJP is leading with 1,543 votes over her nearest rival Gangu Ram Musafir of the Congress after the first round of counting.
In the last Assembly elections, Suresh Kashyap of the BJP had defeated his nearest rival and former minister Musafir with a margin of 6,427 votes in Pachhad
In Dharamshala, the victory margin of Kishan Kapoor of the BJP over Sudhir Sharma of the Congress was of 2,997 votes.
The by-elections to Pachhad and Dharamshala assembly seats were necessitated after sitting BJP MLAs Suresh Kashyap and Kishan Kapoor were elected to the Lok Sabha in May.
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