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Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur is Congress pick for Dehra bypoll
Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur will take on BJP’s Hoshiyar Singh, who had beaten Congress’ Rajesh Sharma in the 2022 assembly polls, as an independent
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur will contest the forthcoming assembly bypolls from the Dehra segment.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal released the list after approval from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday. It comes a day after the Congress party fielded its candidates from Hamirpur and Nalagarh assembly seats.
The bypolls in Hamirpur, Nalagarh and Dehra assembly segments, which will be held on July 10, were necessitated after the Speaker accepted the resignation of three independent MLAs who resigned from the House and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Dehra, a constituency under the Chief Minister’s home parliamentary constituency of Hamirpur but situated in Kangra district, has been a challenging seat for the Congress. Hoshiyar Singh won as an independent from Dehra in 2022 assembly elections, defeating Congress’ Rajesh Sharma who was vying for ticket this time as well. Singh had won from the Dehra seat in 2017 as well and prior to this BJP candidate Ravinder Singh Ravi had won from the Dehra in 2012 assembly elections.
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.
Born on April 2, 1970, in the village of Nalsooha, Dehra subdivision, Kangra district, Kamlesh Thakur has an impressive educational background with an master’s degree in political science from the Government College Chandigarh and a PGDCA diploma. She had earlier attended high School in Nalsooha and got her senior secondary education from Pragpur.
Kamlesh Thakur married Sukhu on June 11, 1998. She has been active in social work and often works with women-related initiatives. Over the past 20 years, she has been an active member of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, maintaining strong ties with party workers.
Politically, she has been actively engaged in the Nadun assembly constituency represented by her husband.
Ashish Sharma files nomination
Meanwhile, Ashish Sharma, the BJP candidate from Hamirpur filed his nomination papers on Tuesday.
BJP state president Dr. Rajiv Bindal; former CM and leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur; Hamirpur MP and former Union minister Anurag Thakur attended the public rally held after filing of his nomination.
Anurag said the Congress government in the state has failed on every front, adding, “The Congress has played with the interests of the state by imposing by-elections on the state. Our top leadership has made Ashish Sharma the party candidate from Hamirpur, and we have again got an opportunity to make the lotus bloom from here.”
In the six by-elections on June 1, the Congress won four seats and secured a majority in the 68-member House the strength of which was reduced to 65 members after the resignation of the three Independent MLAs.
The Congress now has 38 MLAs, while the BJP has increased its strength to 27 after winning two seats in the recent byelections.
