The Congress scored a major victory in the Dehra Assembly bypoll on Saturday as it won the seat for the first time. The victory was spearheaded by Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. She trounced BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh by a margin of 9,399 votes.
This was Congress's first win in the constituency, which has traditionally preferred Independents and BJP candidates. The Dehra assembly constituency was carved out in the Kangra district after the 2010 delimitation exercise. The Election Commission had notified the constituency in 2007.
After the decisive win, Kamlesh Thakur said: "I will give all credit to the people who stood by the party throughout. I am proud of the people of Dehra. The party leaders and workers worked day and night for this day." Kamlesh Thakur held a grand roadshow after the byelection results were declared.
Kamlesh Thakur's Win In Numbers
Thakur received 32,737 votes compared to Singh's 23,338. The three Independent candidates in the race each garnered fewer than 200 votes.
Out of the 86,520 registered voters in the Dehra constituency, 65.42% cast their ballots on July 10. The Dehra Assembly seat was established following a delimitation exercise in 2012. Senior BJP leader and former minister Ravi Inder Singh won the seat in 2012, while Hoshiyar Singh secured it as an Independent in both 2017 and 2022. Hoshiyar Singh, who had supported the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections held in February as an Independent MLA, later joined the BJP and was nominated as the party’s candidate for the Dehra bypoll.
During her election campaign, Kamlesh Thakur highlighted her direct access to the Chief Minister, stating she could address Dehra's needs from home without visiting the secretariat. Celebrations erupted at the Chief Minister’s official residence in Shimla, with supporters celebrating even before the final results were announced.
Dehra Bypolls
The bypolls in Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh were necessitated by the resignations of three Independent MLAs who had voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27. Their resignations were accepted by the Speaker on June 3, following which they joined the saffron party the next day. The BJP then fielded them as its candidates for the bypolls.
However, the lone winner for the BJP in the Himachal Pradesh bypolls was Ashish Sharma.
Why BJP Lost Two Seats In Himachal Bypolls
Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh said that the party's victories in Dehra and Nalagarh were because of the public's anger against the Independents who had switched their allegiance to the BJP reported news agency PTI. Singh said that the voters felt betrayed by the actions of the Independents as they were entrusted to represent the people and not the BJP candidates.
She said that the selection of strong candidates by the Congress was also a reason behind the party's success in Himachal. In Nalagarh, Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated BJP's KL Thakur by 8,990 votes, while the BJP's Ashish Sharma won the Hamirpur seat against Congress's Pushpinder Verma by a slim margin of 1571.
(With PTI inputs.)