Shimla, Dec 8 :After a close battle, the opposition Congress forged ahead in 35 seats – the majority mark – while the ruling BJP led in 30 constituencies on Thursday in the vote count for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls.

Independents were leading in three seats, with trends available for all the 68 constituencies in the hill state that went to the hustings in a single phase on November 12.

Among the leading BJP candidates is Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, but half a dozen of his cabinet ministers – Sarveen Chaudhary, Suresh Bhardwaj, Rakesh Pathania, Rajinder Garg, Virender Kanwar and Rajeev Shaijal- were trailing. Two Cabinet Ministers Ram Lal Markanda, Vikram Singh, Sukh Ram Chaudhary and Govind Thakur were ahead of their rivals,

Assembly Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar. and Deputy Speaker Hansraj, both in the fray on BJP ticket, were leading.

Former state Congress President Sukhvinder Singh Sukh was leading from Nadaun assembly seat of Hamirpur district,

Among other prominent Congress leaders, Mukesh Agnihotri and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh were leading. However, party leaders Prakesh Chaudhary and Chander Kumar have fallen behind other opponents.

The Congress established leads in six of the eight seats of Shimla district. The BJP contestants were in the top position in Jubbal Kotkhai and Chopal seats of the district. The Son of former minister Narendra Bragta, Chetan Bragta, was leading over four-time Congress legislator Rohit Thakur in Jubbal Kotkhai. BJP’s sitting MLA Balbir Verma established a lead from Chopal.

In Solan district, Congress was leading in Solan, Arki, Doon and Kasuli assembly seats.

In Sirmaur distinct, BJP candidates continued to be in pole position in Pachhad, Poant Sabhib and Shilai seats.

Congress and BJP candidates were leading in two seats each in Bilaspur district.