The five-time MLA was elected to lead the BJP government in hilly state after the party's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal failed to be elected from his assembly seat.
A senior BJP leader said the name of the new Chief Minister would be announced by party's central observers comprising Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar and state party in-charge Mangal Pandey.
While Thakur is the key face in the chief ministerial race, other names doing the rounds are of Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda and party MLA Rajeev Bindal.
Although earlier Nadda's name was doing the rounds, Dhumal's name was announced as the party's chief ministerial candidate midway through the election campaign in the state.
The Himachal Pradesh electorate has a history of playing the anti-incumbency card and flipping the party in power every five years - making BJP's win in Himachal a surety from the start.
The giant slayer, who defeated two time former chief minister, is incidentally his protege-turned-bete noire Rajinder Rana.
According to Election Commission data, BJP had won 48.5 per cent or 9,86,592 till 11:30 am, while Congress had earned 41.8 per cent or 8,50,018 votes till that time.
The fate of 337 candidates including Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his predecessor Prem Kumar Dhumal will be known by the end of counting.
The BJP is set to wrest power in Himachal Pradesh with its candidates on a victory lap in 40 of the 68 seats in the Assembly elections on Monday.
In Himachal Pradesh, BJP is enjoying a landslide victory, if exit polls are to be believed. The halfway mark in the 68 seat assembly is 35.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who returned to Shimla after 18 days, dismissed the exit poll results, saying he could well read the mood of the people of the state and the actual results would be opposite to the exit poll projections.
While Congress has invested heavily to upset Bharatiya Janata Party's 22-year-long rule in PM Modi's home state, it has barely spent on saving its fort Himachal Pradesh.
A highest ever polling of 74.61 per cent was recorded in the state in 2017 assembly polls and women outnumbered men in polling by about 1 lakh votes.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday said that VVPAT machines will be used along with EVMs in the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat.
The political history of Himachal Pradesh suggests that the state has never voted the ruling party back to power in quick succession right from the time it attained full statehood on 25 January 1971, except once.
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