In wife Kamlesh Thakur win, a booster for CM Sukhu as he staked prestige in Dehra fight

Dehra voted on Wednesday along with Hamirpur and Nalagarh. While the BJP’s Ashish Sharma defeated the Congress’s Pushpendra Verma in Hamirpur by just 1,571 votes, the Congress’s Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated the BJP’s KL Thakur in Nalagarh by 8,999 votes.

The Dehra win especially comes as a boost to Sukhu, who was leading a prestige battle in the seat.

Following questions on his government’s strength after several Congress MLAs cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections in February this year, the Congress won four of the six Assembly seat bypolls held along with the Lok Sabha elections on June 1.

Dehra was an important fight, with knives expected to be out against Sukhu within the Congress again if Kamlesh lost. Throughout the campaigning, one of the main promises by Kamlesh was Dehra getting a CM office – the second one after Shimla. Sukhu went one step further and said Dehra would technically get “a CM” if they elected his wife.

Moreover, the task before Kamlesh was not easy as Dehra has never elected a Congress candidate. Its 2022 Assembly poll candidate, Rajesh Sharma, who was overlooked for the bypoll, initially rebelled at Kamlesh’s candidature, alleging that he had been kept confined at his official residence in Shimla forcibly before the nomination. Later, however, Sharma retracted his statement and announced support for Kamlesh.

Old Congress hand herself

Born and brought up at village Chamnal under Nalsuha panchayat in Dehra, Kamlesh has been a member of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) for almost two decades. She got married to Sukhu in June 1998.

In her campaign, Kamlesh talked about her links with Dehra, and asked people to vote for “your dhayana (sister, in Pahadi)”. “I am not seeking votes from Congress or BJP supporters, I am demanding votes from my brothers and sisters. You must give so many votes in shagun (token) to your sister that the entire state feels proud of Dehra.”

She also asked Dehra to think why their Independent candidate vacated his seat in 14 months. Speaking in Pahadi, she said: “The MLA has blackened the name of Dehra. This will be part of a General Knowledge question in examination papers.”

Few senior Congress leaders from outside the state campaigned for Kamlesh, and one of them was Pawan Khera, the party’s chairman, Media and Publicity. However, party leaders said, this was not a sign of any lingering opposition to Kamlesh’s candidature. They pointed out that Sukhu has silenced his detractors with the Congress’s good performance in the six Assembly bypolls, and the high command did not raise any objections to the ticket to his wife.

A local Congress supporter Sudershan Thakur had said ahead of the polls that “If this time the Congress does not win, it will never do so in the future. It is the prestige of CM Sukhu at stake.”