The Newz Radar Network
The Congress has been leading in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly byelections to Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh constituencies, the counting of votes for which is underway.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur is leading by 1,815 votes after the sixth round of counting of votes in the Dehra Assembly byelection after having trailed against BJP’s Hoshyar Singh in the first four of the total 10 rounds.
In Hamirpur, Congress candidates Dr Pushpinder Verma was ahead of BJP’s Ashish Sharma by 1,707 votes after the third round of counting. In Nalagarh, where the counting is learnt to have started 50 minutes late, Congress nominee Hardeep Singh Bawa is ahead of BJP’s KL Thakur by 51 votes.
Chief Minister Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh took a lead of 636 votes in the fifth round of counting after having trailed in the first four. She is pitted against Hoshyar Singh, a two-term former Independent legislator whose resignation from the Vidhan Sabha had necessitated the bypoll.
Kamlesh Thakur is locked in a battle of prestige against Hoshyar Singh in her maiden election, the result likely to be seen as a referendum on the performance of the 18-month-old Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government. She wife trailed by 261 votes after the first round, 360 votes after the second, 557 after the third and 37 votes after the counting for the fourth round ended.
Kamlesh belongs to Dehra constituency in Kangra district and is married in neighbouring Nadaun, the seat represented in the Assembly by the first-term Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu. All eyes are on the crucial Assembly bypoll in Dehra, one of the three seats alongside Hamirpur and Nalagarh where bypoll were conducted on July 10 (2024).
Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and KL Thakur were elected as Independent MLAs in the 2022 election but all three resigned from their Vidhan Sabha membership to seek re-election on the BJP ticket.
