With the disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the party’s strength has been reduced from 40 to 34, including the Speaker in the 68-member assembly. The BJP, with 25 members, enjoys the support of three independents and these six seats can break or make the government as 35 MLAs are needed for a majority in the House.
The selection of candidates for the by-elections is a tedious job for the BJP as all the rebels had defeated the BJP candidates in 2022 polls while the Congress would have to look for new candidates.
These six MLAs were disqualified for supporting the BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate, and this fact would be kept in mind while giving the ticket. However, the final call in this regard would be taken by the top leadership, former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur told PTI on Sunday.
Four out of the six assembly seats going to poll on June 1, represented by Congress rebels namely Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret), and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) fall in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, while two seats — represented by Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala) and Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti) fall under the Kangra and Mandi Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
These seats had become vacant after the six rebel Congress MLAs, who had abstained from voting on the cut motion and the Finance Bill (Budget) in the assembly, were disqualified for defying the party’s whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government. They were among the nine MLAs, including three Independents, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls. Sitting BJP MP and Union Minister Anurag Thakur is contesting from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency for the fifth time, while the party’s national president J P Nadda hails from Bilaspur and had represented the Bilaspur (Sadar) seat, which also falls under the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, thrice.
On the other hand, both Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri also represent the Nadaun and Haroli assembly segments in the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.
The expenditure limit for Lok sabha candidate and assembly candidates would be Rs 95 lakh and Rs 40 lakh, respectively as per the state election commission.
The disqualified MLAs have filed an appeal against their disqualification in the Supreme Court and the hearing is slated for March 18.
