6 newly elected Himachal Pradesh MLAs take oath of office

The newly elected BJP MLA from Barsar, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, was asked to read the oath twice as he didn’t say ‘I’ the first time when Pathania administered the oath to him.

Other MLAs who took the oath were the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sudhir Sharma from the Dharamshala Assembly seat and Congress’ Rakesh Kalia from Gargret, Vivek Sharma from Kutlehar, Captain Ranjeet Singh from Sujanpur, and Anuradha Rana from Lahaul & Spiti.

Speaking to media persons after the ceremony, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the state government by ‘purchasing’ six Congress MLAs, four of whom were defeated.

On his part, LoP and senior BJP leader Jairam Thakur said, “The state government is in the minority. We snatched four parliamentary seats from the Congress in the 2024 parliamentary elections. Even in the six bye-elections, we snatched two of Congress’s seats. This state government will not last long.”

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sharma said, “The Congress government under CM Sukhu will not last long. Three bye-elections were announced for the Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh Assembly seats. There is also an issue of six chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSs) which is pending in the Himachal Pradesh High Court.”

While the current strength of Congress is 38, BJP has 27 MLAs. The total strength of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is 68.

Bye-elections on the three Assembly seats, which have been lying vacant since three Independent MLAs resigned, will be held on July 10. The results will be out on July 13.