The Aryavarth Express
Agency (Himachal Pradesh): Four Congress defectors who recently joined the BJP lost the by-elections from their respective assembly segments in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday, according to Election Commission figures.
With victories in four assembly segments, Congress now has 38 MLAs in the 65-member house, ensuring the current state government remains stable. The Congress won the Sujanpur, Gagret, Kutlehar, and Lahaul and Spiti assembly seats, while the BJP secured wins in Dharamshala and Barsar.
In Sujanpur, BJP’s Rajinder Rana was defeated by his former rival Ranjit Singh of Congress by 2,440 votes. Rana, a Congress turncoat, had switched to the BJP but lost after Singh, a retired captain, joined the Congress. Singh received 29,529 votes, while Rana garnered 27,089 votes.
In the Lahaul and Spiti by-election, Congress candidate Anuradha Rana won against Independent candidate Ram Lal Markanda by 1,960 votes in a three-way contest. Anuradha, the first woman to contest from Lahaul and Spiti in 52 years, became the second woman ever to win from this segment. She secured 9,414 votes, compared to Markanda’s 7,454 and BJP candidate Ravi Thakur’s 3,049.
Former BJP minister Sudhir Sharma, labeled a “kingpin” of rebels by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, won the Dharamshala constituency by 5,526 votes. Sharma received 28,066 votes, while his Congress opponent Devinder Singh Jaggi got 22,540 votes. Independent candidate Rakesh Chowdhary garnered 10,770 votes.
In Barsar, BJP candidate Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, also a Congress rebel, won by 2,125 votes, polling 33,088 votes against Congress candidate Subhash Chand’s 30,961 votes.
In Gagret, BJP rebel Rakesh Kalia, who contested on a Congress ticket, defeated Congress rebel Chetanya Sharma by 8,487 votes. Kalia received 35,768 votes, while Sharma got 27,281 votes.
In Kutlehar, BJP candidate Davinder Bhutto lost to Congress’s Vivek Sharma by 5,356 votes. Sharma secured 36,853 votes, while Bhutto got 31,497 votes.
The bypolls held on June 1 coincided with the elections for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh. These six assembly seats—Sujanpur, Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret, and Kutlehar—became vacant following the disqualification of Congress rebels who defied the party whip to vote for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27.
The by-election results are a setback for the BJP, which had previously won the Rajya Sabha polls by triggering a rebellion within the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had predicted the downfall of the Congress government in the state, urging voters to support the BJP.
