HAMIRPUR BYELECION : Poll din ends with Congress, BJP roadshows
Dinesh Kanwar
Hamirpur, July 8
The campaigning for the Hamirpur Assembly bypoll ended today with BJP candidate Ashish Sharma and Congress nominee Pushpinder Verma organising roadshows in the constituency.
The old rivals are again in a direct contest for the Assembly seat after 18 months. Both had locked horns in the 2022 Assembly election when it was a triangular contest. In the last election, Pushpinder Verma was Congress candidate, BJP had fielded Narender Thakur, while Ashish Sharma had contested as Independent.
Sharma had defeated Verma by 12,899 votes and BJP candidate Narender Thakur had secured 12,794 votes.
The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation by Ashish Sharma from the Vidhan Sabha. On the last day of the campaigning, both candidates organised roadshows in the constituency. Verma started his roadshow from Amroh Chowk and traversed about 100 km distance after covering several villages and Hamirpur town. BJP candidate Ashish Sharma’s roadshow started from Ukhali village in the morning and concluded at Bhota Chowk in the town after covering several villages.
Almost every senior leader from both parties participated in the election campaign in the constituency. For the Congress, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, HPCC president Pratibha Singh, ministers Rajesh Dharmani, Vikramaditya Singh, AICC spokesperson Pawan Khera were among others to campaign for Pushpinder Verma.
The BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Union minister Anurag Thakur, state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal, MLAs Trilok Jamwal and Jeet Ram were those who canvassed for Ashish Sharma.
