EC announces bypolls in 3 Himachal Pradesh Assembly seats on July 10

Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania accepted the resignations of the three Independent MLAs — Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and K L Thakur — a day before the results of the parliamentary and bypolls on six seats on June 3. Hoshyar Singh of Dehra, Ashish Sharma of Hamirpur, and K L Thakur of Nalagarh Assembly constituencies submitted their resignations to Pathania on March 22. The three joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the next day.

Later, the three MLAs approached Himachal Pradesh High Court seeking directions to the Speaker to accept their resignations. Meanwhile, they also staged a protest against Pathania demanding the acceptance of their resignations on March 30.

During the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections 2022, the three sought BJP tickets but were denied the opportunity after which they contested as Independents. Later, when the Congress formed the government with 40 legislators, the three Independents supported the party.

Meanwhile, the Congress party won four Assembly seats out of the six in the by-elections held on June 1 in Himachal Pradesh. In the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the BJP won all four parliamentary seats of Mandi, Kangra, Shimla (SC), and Hamirpur.

After the bypoll win last week, the ruling Congress now has 38 seats, and the BJP 27 in the 68-strong Himachal Pradesh Assembly.