India News | Himachal CM's Wife to Contest Dehra Assembly Bypoll

Shimla, Jun 18 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur will contest the Dehra assembly bypoll slated to be held on July 10.

Thakur, who hails from Dehra, is pitted against BJP nominee and two-time MLA Hoshiyar Singh, who bagged the seat as an Independent candidate in 2022 assembly elections.

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Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Tuesday announced the candidature of Thakur after approval from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Her name was finalised after a survey conducted by the party and feedback from the local leaders.

Born on April 2, 1970, in Nalsooha village in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district, Kamlesh Thakur is an MA in Political Science from the Government College Chandigarh. She also holds PG Diploma in Computer Application.

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Thakur has an interest in social service, particularly in the area of women empowerment. Over the past 20 years, she has been an active member of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Dehra constituency was carved out after delimitation in 2010. The Congress has never won this seat. In 2012, Ravinder Singh Ravi of the BJP was elected from here while Independent candidate Hoshiyar Singh was elected twice in 2017 and 2022.

On Monday, the Congress declared the names of Pushpinder Verma from Hamirpur and five-time Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) president of the Himachal unit, Hardeep Singh Baba, from Nalagarh.

Verma and Baba will face their old rivals Krishan Lal Thakur and Ashish Sharma, who had defeated them in the 2022 assembly polls as Independents.

The by-elections to these three assembly seats were necessitated after the resignation of three Independent legislators who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan along with six Congress rebels on February 27 and later joined the BJP on March 23.

Three Independent MLAs had submitted their resignation on March 22.

Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathani accepted their resignation on June 3 after the Lok Sabha elections and the by-elections to six assembly seats were over.

The BJP has already fielded the three Independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and K L Thakur from Nalagarh.

K L Thakur is a two-time MLA from Nalagarh. He won in 2012 on the BJP ticket and in 2022 as an Independent. Sharma is a first-time MLA from Hamirpur.

(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)