Two Independent MLAs who joined BJP lose seats in bypolls, Congress defeated in Hamirpur

Shimla, Jul 13 (PTI) Resigning and switching to the BJP proved costly for two Independent legislators of Himachal Pradesh who lost to Congress candidates from their seats on Saturday in the assembly bypolls.

Congress candidate Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, defeated BJP’s Hoshiyar Singh for the Dehra seat by a margin of 9,399 votes.

Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated his nearest rival and BJP candidate K L Thakur in the bypoll to the Nalagarh assembly seat by 8,990 votes. Bawa is a five-time Indian National Trade Union Congress president.

BJP’s Ashish Sharma, however, managed to win the assembly bypolls from Hamirpur seat as he secured 1,571 votes more than nearest rival and Congress candidate Pushpinder Verma.

The bypoll results ensured that for the first time in the electoral history of the state, a husband and wife — CM Sukhvinder Sukhu and Kamlesh Thakur — would be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

In another first, there will not be a single Independent MLA in the state assembly.

In the 2022 assembly elections, three Independents namely Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) were elected but they resigned after voting for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27. Six Congress MLAs had also cross-voted for the BJP nominee in the election and later joined the saffron party.

The Independent MLAs resigned on March 22 and joined the BJP the next day due to which the seats fell vacant, necessitating by-elections. The resignation of three Independents was accepted by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on June 3.

The Congress’s strength in the 68-member assembly had dropped from 40 to 34 after six of its MLAs joined the BJP. It has now regained the tally it secured in the assembly elections in 2022, after winning four seats in bypolls — held along with the Lok Sabha elections in June — and two more it won on Saturday.

The BJP, which fielded all three Independent MLAs from their respective seats, now has 28 members in the Vidhan Sabha.

Breaking the jinx of three consecutive defeats in Dehra assembly seat, Kamlesh Thakur polled 32,737 votes against 23,338 votes polled by the BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh. The remaining three Independent candidates from the seat could not get even 200 votes each.

The Congress’s lead in Dehra could have been reduced if former BJP ministers, Ravinder Singh Ravi and Romesh Dhawala, Hoshiyar Singh defeated in the elections in 2017 and 2022 as an Independent, could have been persuaded to support the official party candidate.

In Nalagarh, Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Baba polled 34,608 votes against 25,618 polled by the BJP candidate K L Thakur. BJP rebel Harpreet Saini’s 13,025 votes proved to be crucial in the Congress win as Bawa won by a margin of 8,990 votes.

Thakur, who contested the election as an Independent in 2022 assembly polls had defeated Bawa by 13,264 votes. Had Saini not been in the fray in this election, the result could have been different for the BJP.

The lone BJP candidate to win the by-election, Ashish Sharma polled 27,041 votes against 25,470 votes polled by Verma in Hamirpur assembly seat.

In the 2022 assembly elections, he had defeated Verma by 12,899 votes as an Independent candidate.

Sharma’s campaign got a boost due to the active support of former Union minister and sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur.

Meanwhile, celebrations started in Oak Over, the official residence of the chief minister in Shimla, with bursting of crackers even before the results was announced formally.

The winning candidates expressed their gratitude to the electorates while their supporters rejoiced and raised slogans in their support.

CM Sukhu said the people of the state have rejected the “politics of defection” and defeated the BJP.

The voters have given a befitting reply to the Congress turncoats and it is a lesson for the next fifty years for all the parties that “toppling elected governments with money power would not yield results”.

Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Jai Ram Thakur, in a statement, said the BJP accepted the people’s mandate. “Our fight for the welfare of the people of the state would continue from road to Vidhan Sabha,” he said.

The BJP would look into the shortcomings that led to defeat in these by elections, Thakur added.

A total of 13 candidates were in the fray in three assembly constituencies of Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh with a total number of 2,59,340 electorates and about 71 per cent polling was recorded in three assembly by-elections held on July 10.

The Nalagarh assembly constituency had recorded the highest polling of 79.04 per cent, followed by Hamirpur (67.72 per cent) and Dehra (65.42 per cent).