As Congress opened its account in Dehra Assembly seat after 25 years, with CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur winning, the BJP state leadership, which had fielded Hoshyar Singh Chambyal — a two-time former Independent MLA — will now have to answer several questions. The BJP was quick to announce candidature of Hoshyar Singh — as well as the two other former Independent MLAs who joined the party after resigning from Vidhan Sabha — ignoring claim to the tickets from its own stalwart. After the seat was declared vacant, BJP's former minister Ramesh Chand Dhawala had evinced interest in contesting the bypoll. Hoshyar Singh had defeated Ramesh Chand in the 2022 Assembly elections. Prior to that, in 2017 Assembly polls, Hoshyar had defeated Ravinder Singh Ravi, also a former minister of the BJP. Both Ravi, a powerful Rajput leader, and Dhawala did not campaign for Hoshyar Singh. Once considered the BJP's OBC face, Ramesh Chand was left mostly unattended by the state party leadership during the election campaign. Though angry at being denied the ticket, Ramesh Chand had hinted he will think of campaigning for Hoshyar Singh if BJP senior leadership approached him. That Ramesh Chand did not campaign, points to the fact no senior leader visited him. The rebellion from within BJP also cost it Nalagarh seat from where Congress’s Hardeep Singh Bawa won against BJP’s KL Thakur. In Nalagarh, BJP leader Harpreet Singh Saini had staked claim to ticket, but was denied. Harpreet Singh rebelled and contested as an Independent candidate, securing 13,025 votes, making a dent in BJP’s vote share. A BJP leader said though party wanted to act tough against Harpreet, Thakur was in favor of him contesting as an Independent.
