Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife and Congress candidate Kamlesh Thakur won the Dehra assembly byelection by defeating BJP’s Hoshyar Singh by 9,399 votes on Saturday.
In her debut electoral battle, Thakur secured 32,737 votes and Hoshyar Singh got 23,338 votes. Hoshyar Singh was leading in the early trends, but Thakur bounced back after fifth round.
This is the Congress party’s first win in Dehra since the seat was carved out in 2010. The Congress, which already has 38 legislators in the 68-member assembly, had gone on an offensive by fielding Sukhu’s wife from Dehra.
Taking onus, Sukhu spearheaded the Congress campaign and held rallies and public meetings on a daily basis.
Hoshyar Singh, the two-time former independent legislator, had won the seat in the last two assembly elections, defeating candidates from both the Congress and the BJP.
In Nalagarh, Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated BJP’s K L Thakur by 8,990 votes. Bawa, a five-time president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress’ Himachal Pradesh unit, polled 34,608 votes.
In the previous three assembly elections in Nalagarh, KL Thakur secured victories twice: In 2012 as the BJP candidate and as an Independent in 2022. The Congress had won the seat in the 2017 assembly elections.
Later, Sukhu told the media that the Congress will again have 40 legislators in the assembly. “This is the answer to those who conspired to topple the elected government in the state. We thank the people of the state who have rejected the politics of horse-trading.”
{{/usCountry}}Later, Sukhu told the media that the Congress will again have 40 legislators in the assembly. “This is the answer to those who conspired to topple the elected government in the state. We thank the people of the state who have rejected the politics of horse-trading.”
{{/usCountry}}The Congress, however, could not win the Hamirpur seat, where former Independent legislator and now BJP candidate Ashish Sharma secured victory with a slender margin of 1,500 votes.
The seats fell vacant after the three Independent legislators — Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) — who had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27, resigned from the House on March 22.