Shimla, Oct 21 (IANS): Nearly 40 per cent of the 82,137 voters exercised their franchise for by-elections to two Assembly seats in the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh by 1 p.m.

The by-elections to Dharamsala and Pachhad seats were necessitated as Kishan Kapoor and Suresh Kashyap resigned their Assembly seats as they were elected to the Lok Sabha.

In the Dharamsala and Pachhad seats, the polling percentage was 37.32 and 43.58 per cent, respectively.

Greenhorns Reena Kashyap and Vishal Nehria are the BJP candidates from Pachhad and Dharamsala seats, respectively.

The Congress has fielded former Speaker and seven-time legislator Gangu Ram from Pachhad, and young leader from the Gaddi community Vijay Inder Karan from Dharamsala.

The main contest is between the BJP and Congress.

A total of 82,137 voters are set to cast their vote at 89 polling booths for seven candidates in Dharamsala, while 74,487 voters will decide the fate of five candidates by casting their ballot at 113 booths in Pachhad.

The counting of will be on October 24.

The BJP has 44 seats in the 68-member state Assembly.