The Congress on Thursday is leading the initial vote count in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls.
It crossed the half-way mark and was leading in 38 seats, the ruling BJP was leading in 33 seats earlier, but gradually slid to 25 and won two seats.
The independents are leading in three constituencies.
The Independents leading are Hoshiyar Singh BJP rebel from Dhera , K L Thakur BJP rebel from Nalagarh and Ashish Sharma Congress rebel from Hamirpur. once the stronghold of two-time Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.
As Himachal Pradesh has not returned any incumbent government to power in nearly four decades, early trends of ballot count indicated the Congress leading in the 68-member Assembly.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, won from his stronghold Seraj in Mandi district. Congress prominent leaders Mukesh Agnihotri, and Sukhvinder Sukhu, are leading from Haroli and Nadaun seats respectively.
As most exit poll surveys have predicted a tight contest between the incumbent BJP and the opposition Congress.
The results in many constituencies in Himachal Pradesh are becoming unpredictable, where the competition between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress is neck to neck with a margin of only 200 and 500 votes only.
The constituencies of Rampur, Bilaspur and Nalagarh are showing very narrow contests. Although Congress had touched the mark of the majority but still manifesting to get 40 seats the state
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in the fray for the first time in the Assembly polls, has been missing from the state with its leaders focusing on strengthening its vote bank in Gujarat.
Sensing a neck and neck contest between the BJP and the Congress, rebels, who had broken ties with the mainstream parties, have started holding ‘in-door’ parleys with a belief that in politics there is no permanent enemy or friend.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main Opposition Congress have also begun an exercise to keep its numbers in ‘order’ in case of hung House.