After weeks of political instability in Himachal Pradesh caused by a spate of defections, the results of the recent bypolls have come as a welcome respite for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The Congress party, under Sukhu’s leadership, won two of the three constituencies that went to the polls last month.
The elections were crucial for Sukhu to consolidate his position in the face of rebellion by six party legislators earlier this year. Key among the wins for the CM was the victory of his wife Kamlesh Thakur in Dehra. Running as a political novice, she defeated sitting MLA Hoshyar Singh by a comfortable margin of over 9,000 votes.
Political analysts see Thakur’s win as a major endorsement of Sukhu’s leadership, and a blow to defectors like Singh who crossed over to the BJP. Interestingly, of the three former Independent MLAs who triggered the bypolls by resigning, the two who joined the opposition lost their seats. Only Ashish Sharma held on to Hamirpur.
The results have helped Sukhu shore up his government’s numbers. Although the Congress suffered losses in the recent Lok Sabha polls, it has rebounded well in the bypolls to regain a strength of 40 seats in the 68-member assembly. This should provide the chief minister more stability to carry out his development agenda without the disruptions of the past few months.
Whether this also marks a decline in attempts at political poaching in the hill state remains to be seen. But for now, the bypoll outcome has handed Sukhu some crucial political breathing space when he needed it most.
