Himachal CM’s wife Kamlesh Thakur wins crucial election from Dehra, defeats two-term MLA

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, July 13

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur has won the Dehra Assembly bypoll by a decisive margin of 9,399 votes. Two-time Independent MLA Hoshiyar Singh was rejected by the voters as he was seeking re-election on the BJP ticket after having resigned from the Assembly.

Kamlesh Thakur got 32,737 votes against Hoshiar Singh’s 23,338 votes. Hoshiar Singh led the vote tally till 4th round of counting by a slender margin of about 800 votes. However, after fifth round, his lead got reduced to 37 votes. In the remaining five rounds, the CM’s wife kept consolidating her lead and ultimately won by 9,399 votes.

The sources here said that Hoshiyar Singh managed to get lead from Haripur Guler area of Dehra constituency, which was his core base as Independent candidate. However, in the byelections that concluded today his lead from the Haripur Guler area got squeezed as compared to 2022 Assembly polls. In 2022 assembly polls Hoshiyar Singh had secured lead of over 4,000 votes from Haripur Guler area. However, in byelections that concluded today his lead got reduced to just about 800 votes from the said areas.

CM’s wife Kamlesh Thakur gained considerably in areas around Dehra town and Dhaliara area. In each round of counting from the said area, the CM’s wife gained considerably. The sources said that villages around Dhaliara  were the strong base of the BJP once.

Kamlesh’s victory has raised hopes among the locals as Dehra is one of the most backward areas of Kangra district. The CM had carried out an intensive campaign in Dehra for about a month. He had promised many development projects for the area, including an SP and SE-PWD offices. He had also promised to change the rules for helping out the Pong Dam oustees who have been living landless in the region since their land was acquired for the construction of Pong Dam in 1960s.

Hoshiyar Singh has blamed the alleged misuse of government machinery for his defeat. He alleged that the government had threatened government employees, private traders and shopkeepers.