BJP retains Hamirpur Parliamentary seat

Hamirpur, June 5 (UNI) The BJP today retained the Hamirpur Parliamentary seat with its candidate former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal winning the elections with a margin of 80,059 votes, Hamirpur Returning Officer Rajneesh Kumar said.

Mr Dhumal humbled his Congress rival and state Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur with a margin of 80,059 votes in the Parliamentary bypolls in which a total of 7,03,447 votes were polled, he told UNI.

Mr Kumar said the former chief minister polled 3,82,128 votes as against 3,02,069 received by Mr Thakur, who has lost the elections from this constituency for the third successive time.

The BJP led in 15 assembly segments out of a total of 17 segments, which constituted the parliamentary seat, while the Congress led from two constituencies of Santoshgarh in Una district and Kot Kehloor in Bilaspur district only, he said.

Mr Dhumal's lead from Bamsan assembly constituency alone was 20,586 as he polled 31,415 votes as against 10,829 polled by Mr Thakur.

The BJP leader maintained his lead over the Congress candidate in the postal votes too by getting 1,893 votes as against 1,434 votes received by his rival.

Four independents-- Des Raj, Prem Chand, Sabardeen and Subhash Chand Sharma--forfeited their deposits having polled 4,205, 1,601, 4,485 and 8,959 votes respectively.

The bypolls to the Hamirpur seat were held after Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee suspended BJP MP Suresh Chandel following his involvement in the 'cash-for-query scam' exposed by a sting operation by a private television.

UNI