SHIMLA: Congress seems to have further gambled its future in Himachal Pradesh by fielding two of its 34 MLAs in the Lok Sabha elections despite being already one short of a majority in the assembly. The equation has been dicey for Congress ever since the disqualification of six legislators who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls last Feb.
PWD minister and Shimla (rural) MLA Vikramaditya Singh has been nominated to contest the Mandi seat, while Kasauli legislator Vinod Sultanpuri is the candidate for Shimla.
This isn’t the first time Congress has sent sitting MLAs to do battle in Lok Sabha contests in the Himalayan state.
In 2019, the strategy flopped when the party fielded sitting MLAs in three of the state’s four LS seats, and they all lost – Dhaniram Shandil in Shimla, Pawan Kajal in Kangra, and Ramlal Thakur in Hamirpur.
It was the same in 2014, when Congress made two sitting MLAs run for Parliament. Rohru legislator Mohan Lal Brakta lost to Virender Kashyap in Shimla, while Sujanpur legislator Rajinder Rana suffered a defeat at the hands of BJP’s Anurag Thakur in Hamirpur.
If Congress is third time lucky, another round of byelections will be required to fill the assembly vacancies, including three seats held by Independent MLAs whose resignations are awaiting the speaker’s acceptance.
The six seats previously held by disqualified MLAs will vote on June 1 along with the state’s Lok Sabha seats.