Shimla: Candidates of the ruling Congress party in Himachal Pradesh have emerged victorious in two of the three assembly constituencies where bypolls were held on 10 July. Among those elected to the assembly is Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
With two more seats, the Congress now has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly, further insulating a government that appeared on the brink of collapse as recently as March owing to rebellion by six MLAs.
The Opposition BJP, on the other hand, now has 28 MLAs, including Ashish Sharma who won Hamirpur seat — which falls in CM Sukhu’s home district — in the just concluded assembly bypolls.
The bypolls were necessitated after the resignation of three Independent MLAs, namely Hoshyar Singh from Dehra, Krishan Lal Thakur from Nalagarh and Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur.
The trio joined the BJP in March and were fielded in the bypolls.
The Congress fielded Kamlesh Thakur from Dehra, Dr Pushpinder Verma from Hamirpur and Hardeep Singh Bawa from Nalagarh.
In Dehra, Congress’s Thakur won by a margin of 9,399 votes, while in Nalagarh Bawa of the Congress registered a winning margin of 8,990 votes. And in Hamirpur, BJP’s Sharma won with a narrow margin of 1,571 votes.
Then in the fray as Independent candidates, Hoshyar Singh, Krishan Lal Thakur and Ashish Sharma had secured 22,997 votes, 33,427 votes and 25,916 votes respectively in the 2022 assembly elections.
The BJP had tasked senior leaders with overseeing the assembly bypolls. Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur and former Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur was given charge of Hamirpur, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly and former CM Jairam Thakur was given charge of Nalagarh, while state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal was given charge of Dehra.
Asked what the outcome of the assembly bypolls means for both parties, political analyst M.P.S. Rana told ThePrint that fielding former Independents while ignoring its own leaders led to trouble for BJP.
“BJP rebel Harpreet Saini secured 13,025 votes in Nalagarh; BJP leader and former minister Ramesh Dhawala was upset in Dehra,” he said.
Adding, “BJP won a seat in CM’s home district Hamirpur. The Congress floated a campaign appealing to the people of Hamirpur to support the CM, as Sukhu hails from there. But Anurag campaigned exhaustively.”
The Congress had never won Dehra since the assembly segment came into existence in 2012 following delimitation. BJP’s Ravinder Singh Ravi won it in 2012, while Independent Hoshyar Singh won it in 2017 and 2022.
While on the campaign trail, CM Sukhu had repeatedly used the line, “Dehra hai Mera.” (Dehra is mine)
Kamlesh Thakur while campaigning made attempts to convince voters she could assist Sukhu in resolving their concerns. She told media persons in Dehra Saturday, “Party leaders and workers worked day and night for this day… I will give all credit to the people who stood by the party.”
But with the bypoll results, all eyes are now on the BJP whose leader in the state Jairam Thakur had written off the Suku government as “short-lived”.
The Congress, too, had used this narrative by accusing the BJP of trying to sabotage the people’s mandate.
Asked about the outcome of the assembly bypolls, Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh told ThePrint Saturday, “This is the victory of the ideology of the Congress party and INDIA bloc. The people of the state have reaffirmed their faith in the Congress government.”
Though the Congress failed to send its nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi to the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh in March due to cross-voting, Sukhu managed to tide over the crisis, and is now aiming to win back as many of the nine seats vacated by rebel MLAs as possible.
Six of the nine seats were held by Congress MLAs — who were disqualified after cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls — while the other three were held by Independents supporting the Congress. These lawmakers also voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls and later joined the party.
Results for the first six assembly bye-elections were declared on 4 June, with the Congress winning four and the BJP winning two.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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