Congress announces two candidates for by-elections in Nalagarh, Hamirpur

The bypolls in Hamirpur, Nalagarh and Dehra assembly segments were necessitated after the Speaker accepted the resignation of three independent MLAs who resigned from the House and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party

The Congress party on Monday announced candidates for two out of the three assembly constituencies where the bypolls are scheduled to be held on July 10.

Hardeep Singh Bawa and Pushpendra Vermaa were named as Congress candidates from Nalagarh and Hamirpur assembly bypolls. (HT)

The party has named Pushpendra Verma and Hardeep Singh Bawa as its candidates from Hamirpur and Nalagarh assembly segments, respectively. The party is yet to announce the name of its candidate from the Dehra assembly constituency.

The bypolls in Hamirpur, Nalagarh and Dehra assembly segments were necessitated after the Speaker accepted the resignation of three independent MLAs who resigned from the House and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Verma had lost to independent Ashish Sharma during the 2022 assembly elections from Hamirpur. Hardeep Singh Bawa contested as the Congress candidate in the same elections from the Nalagarh seat, but was defeated by KL Thakur, who had also contested as an Independent.

The BJP has already fielded the three independent legislators whose resignation had necessitated the bypolls from their respective assembly segments.

The three Independent MLAs are — Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh). All three had voted in favour of the BJP candidate, Harsh Mahajan, in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections along with six rebel Congress MLAs who cross-voted.

The Congress had earlier appointed co-observers for the assembly bypolls.

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Rajnish Kimta said Suresh Kumar, Chandershekhar and Vivek Sharma MLAs have been given the responsibility for Hamirpur seat. Bhawani Singh Pathania, Raghuvir Singh Bali, and Sanjay Rattan have been appointed the observer for Dehra, while Ram Kumar Chaudhary, Sanjay Awasthy and Vinod Sultanpuri will oversee Nalagarh.

Kimta had said the party was fully prepared for the bypolls, adding that the observers will coordinate with the party in-charge of the segments.

He added that agriculture minister Chander Kumar has been appointed the in-charge for Dehra, education minister Rohit Thakur for Nalagarh and technical education minister Rajesh Dharmani for Hamirpur.