In a boost for the Congress government in Himachal Pradeshthe party won four of the six assembly by-elections on Tuesday.
The results are a boost to the Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government, which was facing a threat following the subsequent cross-voting of MLAs from six parties in the Rajya Sabha by-election.
The MLAs, who were disqualified from the assembly, later joined the BJP. The disqualification caused the election of the six seats.
Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Monday accepted the resignation of three independent MLAs, who had also voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections along with rebel Congress MLAs. Congress candidate Abishek Manu Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha elections, bringing embarrassment to the Congress.
The Congress has 34 MLAs in the assembly and with four of its candidates winning the by-elections, the party’s strength now stands at 38 in the 68-member House. With three vacancies, the effective strength of the assembly is 65 and the majority is 33.
In the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress won 40 seats, while the BJP won 25.
BJP candidate Sudhir Sharma polled 28,066 votes in Dharamshala assembly constituency and defeated his nearest rival Devender Singh Jaggi of Congress who polled 22,540 votes. Independent candidate Rakesh Chaudhary got 10,770, while Satish Kumar got 422.
Lahaul-Spiti Congress candidate Anuradha Rana polled 9,414 votes and defeated her nearest rival, independent candidate Ram Lal Markanda, who polled 7,454 votes. BJP candidate Ravi Thakur got 3,049 votes.
Captain Ranjit Singh Rana, Congress candidate from Sujanpur, polled 29,529 votes and defeated his closest rival BJP Rajender Singh Rana who polled 27,089 votes. Ravinder Singh Dogra of the Nationalist Congress Party got 334 votes. Independent candidates, Anil Rana got 134 votes, Sher Singh 71 and Rajesh Kumar got 46 votes.
Kutlehar’s Congress candidate Vivek Sharma polled 35,728 votes and defeated his nearest rival BJP Devender Kumar Bhutto who polled 30,841 votes. Independent candidates Chanchal Singh got 290 and Rajiv Sharma got 228 votes respectively.
In Gagret, Congress candidate Rakesh Kalia polled 35,768 votes and defeated his nearest BJP rival Chaitanya Sharma who polled 27,281 votes. Independent candidates Amit Vashisht, Ashok Sonkhala and Manohar Lal Sharma secured 570, 323 and 288 votes respectively.
BJP’s Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar polled 33,086 votes and defeated his nearest rival Subhash Chand from Congress who obtained 30,961 votes. Independent candidate Vishal Kumar scored 452.
Voting for six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held in the seventh and final phase on June 1.
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