Kangra (Himachal Pradesh): Congress candidate and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife, Kamlesh Thakur, has won the assembly by-election from the Dehra constituency by defeating Hoshyar Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Kamlesh Thakur was leading by over 9,000 votes against Hoshyar Singh in the final round of counting on Saturday.
After winning the Dehra assembly by-polls, Kamlesh Thakur, said, "The party leaders and workers worked day and night for this day. I will give all credit to the people who stood by the party throughout. I am proud of the people of Dehra."
Chief Minister Sukhu spoke to ANI on Congress leading on two out of three assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh and said, "People of Himachal gave us 40 seats in 2022. People have given a befitting reply to the kind of poaching that happened in state politics in the past."
"This also gave the message that the people of the state are aware and awake and that such poaching will not work. Three independent MLAs had no reason to resign. They could have simply allied with the BJP, but even they learned their lesson," he said.
Adding further, Sukhu said, "I had put in everything for the Dehra constituency. I want to congratulate Kamlesh Thakur for winning the seat. The reason for fielding my wife from Dehra was to make Congress enter Kangra and increase the MLAs in the valley from 9 to 10. All three seats are strongholds of BJP and we have won two of them. This is a big deal."
