HP bypolls: Congress leading in two assembly seats, BJP in one

Shimla: Congress candidates, including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife, are in the lead in the two assembly constituencies of Dehra and Nalagarh, while the BJP candidate is ahead in Hamirpur, officials said on Saturday.

The counting of votes for the by-elections in all the three assembly constituencies, held on Wednesday, began at 8 am.

Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur was leading by 6,115 votes against her nearest rival and BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh in the Dehra assembly seat after the eighth round of counting, the officials said.

Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa was also leading by 3,548 votes after the fifth round against the BJP candidate K L Thakur in the Nalagarh assembly seat, they officials said.

In the Hamirpur assembly seat, BJP's Ashish Sharma, who was trailing in the first four rounds against Congress' Pushpinder Verma, was now ahead by 743 votes after the fifth round.

Thirteen candidates were in the fray from the three seats.

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

The overall voting percentage of the three bypolls was 71 per cent, according to the data of the state election department.

The seats fell vacant after the three Independent legislators Singh (Dehra), Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), who had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27, resigned from the state assembly on March 22 and joined the party the next day.

Their resignations, however, were accepted by the assembly speaker on June 3, and the seats were declared vacant, necessitating the by-elections.

The BJP fielded all the three former MLAs from their respective seats.

The Congress fielded Kamlesh Thakur from Dehra, repeated its candidate Verma from Hamirpur and gave ticket to five-time Indian National Trade Union Congress president, Himachal Pradesh unit, Bawa, from Nalagarh.

Though the bypolls will not make much difference in the 68-member House as the Congress has a majority with 38 MLAs. The BJP has 27 members.