Himachal Bypolls: CM Sukhu's Wife Kamlesh Thakur Emerges As 'Giant Killer' In Dehra, Drubs BJP Comfortably

Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, has secured a victory in the Dehra assembly bypoll.

She defeated Hoshyar Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by 9,399 votes. According to the Election Commission website, Thakur received 32,737 votes while her BJP opponent garnered 23,338 votes.

"The party leaders and workers worked day and night for this day... I will give all credit to the people who stood by the party throughout... I am proud of the people of Dehra," Thakur expressed to reporters in Kangra.

Bypoll Results Across Himachal Pradesh

In Nalagarh, Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa was leading by 6,870 votes against BJP's K.L. Thakur in the penultimate round of counting.

Meanwhile, in Hamirpur, the BJP candidate had a narrow lead of 1,571 votes in the final round. The Nalagarh constituency recorded the highest voter turnout at 79.04%, followed by Hamirpur at 67.72% and Dehra at 65.42%.

The seats became vacant after three Independent legislators—Hoshyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), and K.L. Thakur (Nalagarh)—resigned from the state assembly on March 22 and joined BJP the next day. The BJP fielded these former MLAs from their respective seats.

National Bypoll Overview

Of the 13 assembly seats across seven states that went to polls last week, Congress is leading in five constituencies. Trinamool Congress (TMC) is ahead in all four assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

In Tamil Nadu, DMK, an ally of Congress, led from Vikravandi by over 35,000 votes after ten rounds of counting.

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Mohinder Bhagat won the Jalandhar West assembly seat by defeating BJP candidate Sheetal Angural with a margin exceeding 37,325 votes.

Congress candidate Surinder Kaur was pushed to third place with 16,757 votes while Shiromani Akali Dal's Surjit Kaur finished fourth with just 1,242 votes.

The recent by-elections have shown varied results across different states and parties.

While Congress has made significant gains in some areas, other parties like TMC and AAP have also demonstrated strong performances in their respective regions.