The main contest is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The curtains came down on Friday on campaigning for the 68 Himachal Pradesh assembly seats that will go to the polls on November 4.
A total of 459 candidates are in the fray, an election official here said.
The main contest is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
However, rebels in both main political parties of the state -- the ruling BJP and the Congress -- are also in the fray in more than 12 constituencies and could impact the poll outcome.
Some rebels troubling the BJP are sitting legislator Roop Singh from Sundernagar, former legislator Chet Ram Negi from Kinnaur, suspended Kangra MP Rajan Sushant's wife Sudha Sushant from Fatehpur, Pawan Kajal from Kangra, HN Kashyap in Solan, Bhupinder Chauhan from Bhatiyat and Brij Lal from Rampur.
The Congress is facing rebellion from Dhramvir Dhami from Manali, Karnesh Jang from Paonta Sahib, A.C. Paul from Arki, Prem Lata from Kullu, sitting legislator Yog Raj from Dehra, former legislator Ishwar Dass from Ani, OP Rattan from Una and Mast Ram from Karsog.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Trinamool Congress, a first-time entrant in the hill state, have also fielded candidates in 12 and 28 constituencies respectively.
As many as 46,08,359 voters, including 22,31,772 women, will cast their ballots at 7,253 polling stations across the state. Votes for the election will be counted December 20.
Earlier, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi and BJP leaders LK Advani and Arun Jaitley visited the state to woo voters.
In the 2007 elections to the 68-member assembly, the BJP won 41 seats, the Congress 23, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) one and independents three. A BSP legislator later joined the BJP.
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