Last Updated on 09/07/2024 by wccexam Desk
Dehra by-election 2024
Dehra by-election 2024, Vote for the CM, not the MLA. This is the slogan of Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Congress candidate from Dehra assembly seat, who is making her debut in electoral politics. Apart from Hamirpur and Nalagarh, Dehra is one of the three assembly constituencies where by-elections are to be held on Wednesday, July 10. These seats fell vacant after three independent MLAs – Hoshiar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) resigned from the Congress. They voted in favor of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections held on 27 February 2024. The seats fell vacant after they resigned from the House on 22 March.
CM Sukhu’s wife is in the field
After joining the BJP, the party has fielded all the three former independent MLAs from their respective winning seats. Among these, Dehra seat has become the most special. The reason is that CM Sukhwinder Singh’s wife Kamlesh Thakur is in the fray from Dehra seat. While campaigning, Kamlesh Thakur told the people, vote for the CM, not the MLA. Now, Dehra will also become the constituency of the CM. Kamlesh Thakur, a two-time independent MLA from Dehra and now contesting against BJP candidate Hoshiar Singh, said, I will not need to go to the secretariat to get your work done, I will get it done from the Chief Minister sitting at home.
However, the by-election will not make much difference in the House as the Congress has a majority with 38 out of 68 members and the BJP has 27 members. But the chief minister’s prestige will be at stake in Dehra as Kamlesh Thakur is in the fray. Hoshiar Singh is one of the nine MLAs who voted against the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
History of Dehra seat
The Dehra constituency was created after delimitation in 2012 and senior BJP leader and former minister Ravi Inder Singh was elected as MLA in 2012, while Hoshiar Singh won as an independent in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections. This time the BJP gave ticket to Hoshiar Singh, ignoring the objections of former ministers Romesh Dhawala and Ravi Inder Singh, setting the stage for a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP.