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Himachal assembly bypolls: BJP allots ticket to 3 former Independents
BJP fielded Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur. A first-time legislator, Ashish resigned from the assembly on March 22 along with two other former Independents, KL Thakur from Nalagarh and Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra. All three had supported BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections along with six other Congress rebels.
The Bharatiya Janata Party late on Thursday announced its candidates for the bypolls to the three assembly segments, Hamirpur, Dehra, and Nalagarh. The bypoll will be held on July 10.
BJP fielded Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur. A first-time legislator, Ashish resigned from the assembly on March 22 along with two other former Independents, KL Thakur from Nalagarh and Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra. All three had supported BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections along with six other Congress rebels. Almost a month after, the three had resigned from the Vidhan Sabha and later on March 23, they joined the BJP.
Two-time MLA from Nalagarh, Thakur first made it to the assembly in 2012. He was an executive engineer in the irrigation and public health department (now jal shakti) before taking a plunge into the electoral politics. He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha on the BJP ticket in 2012. He lost the election to Congress’ Lakhwinder Rana in 2017. Rana shifted to the the BJP just ahead of the assembly polls. Thakur contested the election as an Independent and won the Nalagarh seat.
Hoshiyar Singh is a Mumbai Mumbai-based businessman who contested elections from Dehra for the first time in 2017. He was elected as an Independent. Again in 2022, he was elected to the assembly as an Independent candidate.
