Bypolls to 6 Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh to be held along with Lok Sabha election on June 1

Shimla, March 16 

Bypolls to six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, which are falling vacant after the disqualification of Congress MLAs, would be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1, according to officials.

The byelections will be held in Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg told reporters here. He said the bypolls will be held on June 1 along with the general elections. 

These seats became vacant after six rebel Congress MLAs, who had abstained from voting on a cut motion and finance bill (Budget) in the assembly, were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government.

The Congress legislators are Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto. 

They were among the nine MLAs, including three Independents, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls.

The disqualified MLAs have filed an appeal against their disqualification in the Supreme Court and the hearing is slated for March 18.