Congress picks Pushpender Verma for Hamirpur byelection, Hardeep Singh Bawa for Nalagarh

Shimla, June 17

Out of the three Assembly constituencies facing byelections, the Congress today named its candidates for two seats. The party has fielded Pushpender Verma from the Hamirpur Assembly constituency and Hardeep Singh Bawa from the Nalagarh Assembly constituency.

However, the party hasn’t named its candidate yet from the Dehra Assembly constituency, fuelling speculations that the party is considering other name along with Rajesh Sharma, who has been the frontrunner for the ticket from the seat right from the outset.

Rumours have been doing the rounds that the party high command is considering fielding Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur from this seat. Even as Chief Minister has already ruled out any such possibility, the rumours about a surprise candidate have again started doing the rounds after the party held back the name of the candidate for this seat today.

Meanwhile, it’s going to be re-match on the other two seats as the Congress chose to field the same candidates who fought and lost in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections. The BJP, on the other hand, has given tickets to the victorious Independent candidates on these three seats in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.

In Hamirpur, Verma will take on BJP’s Ashish Sharma. A doctor by profession, Verma had lost to Sharma by a margin of 12,899 votes in a triangular contest in the Vidhan Sabha elections. On the Nalagarh seat, Bawa will face KL Thakur, who won the last election as an Independent. Bawa had lost the 2022 elections by a margin of 13, 264 votes.