ECI Announces Bypolls for three Assembly Seats of Himachal
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced byelections for 13 assembly seats nationwide, following the election of certain legislators to the Lok Sabha and their subsequent resignations. Chief Electoral Officer Manish Garg confirmed that the affected seats include three in Himachal Pradesh, four in West Bengal, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh.
In Himachal Pradesh, bypolls will be held for the Dehra seat in Kangra, and Hamirpur and Nalagarh seats in Solan district. The schedule is as follows: the notification will be issued on June 14, 2024, with the last date for filing nominations on June 21, 2024. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 24, 2024, and the final date for withdrawal of candidatures is June 26, 2024. Polling is scheduled for July 10, 2024, and counting will occur on July 13, 2024. The entire election process will be completed by July 15, 2024.
The vacancies in Himachal Pradesh arose on June 2, when Speaker Kuldeep Pathania accepted the resignations of three Independent MLAs: Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, and K.L. Thakur from Nalagarh. They resigned on March 22 and joined the opposition BJP the next day. The BJP has announced their candidacies for the upcoming bypolls.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the Congress holds 38 seats, the BJP has 27, and three seats are vacant. These byelections are crucial for both major parties as they seek to strengthen their positions in the state.
