In a surprise move the Congress High Command has decided to field Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamelsh Thakur to contest the Dehra by-election.
A press release issued by Congress General Secretary Venugopal on Tuesday notified the name of Kamlesh Thakur to contest the ensuing by-election from Dehra constituency on Congress ticket.
Kamlesh Thakur has basically been a homemaker and her nomination would be a litmus test for the CM Sukhu as he had reportedly declined the offer to field her as a Congress candidate from Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency saying, “His wife is not keen to join active politics being a homemaker.”
More so, since Congress candidates have been losing the Assembly election in Dehra after creation of the constituency in 2011.
The last two elections in 2017 and 2022 were won by Independent candidate Hoshiyar Singh. During the 2022 Assembly election he had defeated Congress candidate Rajesh Sharma by 3877 votes.
Hoshiyar Singh had resigned from Vidhan Sabha in March this year and joined BJP and is now BJP candidate in the by-election.
In the last parliament election BJP candidate from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur had taken a lead of over 15317 votes in Dehra Assembly segment .
The Congress has fielded Pushpender Verma and Hardeep Singh Bawa from Hamirpur and Nalagarh Assembly constituency, respectively.