In an interesting twist in Himachal Pradesh politics, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) today declared Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur as the party candidate for the Assembly by-poll from Dehra slated for July 10.
It would be her debut in state politics and it is for the first time that the wife of an MLA is in the fray to become a member of the same Legislative Assembly in the state.
Sources say her name was sent for the Dehra Assembly by-poll by the party's high command, which had asked Chief Minister Sukhu to consider the same.
Dehra Assembly segment is located in the Kangra district but is part of the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat. Kamlesh Thakur, in her mid-50s, is a locality. Sukhu represents the Nadaun Assembly segment in the Hamirpur district.
Kamlesh’s name was on top in a survey conducted by the Congress party to assess the winnability of the Congress in Dehra, which was vacated by the Independent MLA, Hoshyar Singh in March, who had resigned to join BJP along with other two Independent MLAs.
The BJP has fielded Singh in Dehra, who was elected twice before from the same constituency. In 2012, BJP’s former minister, Ravinder Singh Ravi won the election from the segment.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, Congress’s Dr Rajesh Sharma had finished second and had walked away with over 19000 votes against Independent candidate, Hoshyar Singh over 22000 votes. Dr Rajesh is again a ticket seeker. However, the party has preferred to field the CM's wife from Dehra.
The Congress party has fielded Dr Pushpinder Verma from Hamirpur and Hardeep Bawa from Nalagarh Assembly segments for the July 10 by-poll. Both had unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly polls.
The BJP has chosen to field the three Independent MLAs on the BJP ticket, after they resigned from the state Assembly to join BJP, in the wake of the worst revolt in Congress.
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