Congress Wins Historic Dehra Assembly Seat

Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, secured a momentous victory for Congress in the Dehra Assembly bypoll, defeating BJP's Hoshiyar Singh by a margin of 9,399 votes. This marks the first win for Congress in this seat, historically held by independent and BJP candidates.

In a significant political development, Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, clinched a historic win for the Congress in the Dehra Assembly by-election. Thakur defeated BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh by an impressive margin of 9,399 votes, marking the first victory for the Congress in this constituency.

Thakur polled 32,737 votes in the bypoll compared to Singh's 23,338 votes, while the three Independent candidates failed to secure even 200 votes each. The voter turnout was notable, with 65.42 percent of the 86,520 registered voters casting their ballots on July 10.

The Dehra Assembly constituency, created in 2012, has seen varied political representation. Notably, Hoshiyar Singh, an Independent MLA who later joined the BJP, had previously held the seat. During her campaign, Thakur asserted her influence, suggesting she could get constituency work done without needing to visit the secretariat, leveraging her proximity to the chief minister.

The victory sparked celebrations at the Chief Minister's official residence in Shimla, with supporters celebrating even before the final results were announced. The bypolls in Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh were triggered after Independent MLAs, who supported the BJP in a Rajya Sabha election, resigned and joined the BJP, leading to recontests.