India News | EC Postponed HP Bypolls Due to Details of Covid Situation Given by Govt, BJP Was Ready: CM

Shimla, Sep 6 (PTI) The Election Commission postponed bypolls in Himachal Pradesh after the state government provided it with details about the surge in COVID-19 cases then, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said here on Monday.

The bypolls to the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency and three assembly seats of Arki, Jubbal-Kotkhai and Fatehpur are due as they fell vacant after sitting legislators passed away. However, the Election Commission recently postponed the bypolls in the state.

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On a query regarding Congress's allegations that the BJP was running from the bypolls, Thakur told media that the ruling party was ready for the elections but the EC postponed the bypolls due to a surge in Covid cases then, the information of which was provided by the state government.

The Himachal Pradesh government provided factual information about Covid to the EC, he added.

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The chief minister said that the state government also provided information to the EC about recent landslides in the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti in which several people lost their lives. Both the districts fall under Mandi parliamentary segment.

Thakur said that on the basis of information provided by the state government, the EC decided not to immediately hold the bypolls.

Refuting Congress's allegations, the chief minister said the BJP was completely ready for the bypolls and he had himself visited all the 17 assembly segments, except Kinnaur. Besides he also toured areas falling under the three assembly segments for which the bypolls were due, he added.

Himachal Pradesh Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathour in a statement on Saturday alleged that the EC had postponed the bypolls at the behest of the BJP government as the party was running from bypolls due to the resentment against it among the masses.

The state has 68 Assembly and four Lok Sabha segments.

The Mandi seat fell vacant as BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma was found hanging in his official residence in New Delhi on March 17.

Besides, former minister and Fatehpur Congress MLA Sujan Singh Pathania, former minister and Jubbal-Kotkhai MLA Narinder Bragta and former chief minister and Arki MLA Virbhadra Singh died in February, June and July respectively.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)