In Himachal, three winning Independents are BJP rebels

Here’s a look at how the BJP rebels fared in Himachal Pradesh election as Independents

It’s a neck-and-neck contest in Himachal Pradesh this time with Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintaining a close fight to emerge as winners in the assembly elections. While BJP has introduced fresh faces by dropping many sitting MLAs, Congress too has disappointed many leaders as they denied ticket to some crucial seats. Many of these disgruntled leaders from BJP and Congress have contested as Independents in this election.

Here’s a look at how the BJP rebels fared in this election as Independents.

BJP rebel Ashish Sharma who contested from Hamirpur constituency won the election by defeating his Congress rival. Mr. Sharma defeated Congress candidate Pushpinder Verma by a margin of 12,899 votes. He was followed by BJP’s Narinder Thakur. In 2017, Narinder Thakur had won defeating Kuldeep Singh Pathania from this constituency.

Independent candidate and BJP rebel Hoshiyar Singh won the Dehra assembly seat, defeating his Congress rivals by more than 3,500 votes in the Himachal Pradesh poll results. Mr. Singh defeated Rajesh Sharma by a margin of 3,877 votes.

He is the sitting MLA from Dehra. He won as an Independent in 2017 and subsequently joined BJP in June 2022 only to quit the party in October. Though in the good books of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, his relationship with Union Minister Anurag Thakur was a strained one. He has been at loggerheads with the Dehra unit of the BJP since he joined the party which owed its allegiance to Anurag Thakur.

Another BJP rebel Krishan Lal Thakur from Nalagarh in Solan district won the Nalagarh seat, defeating Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa by a margin of 13264 votes. He contested in Nalagarh since BJP denied a ticket in this seat. BJP chose L.S. Rana, a turncoat from Congress for the seat. The reason: Mr. Thakur lost 2017 elections.