Assembly bypoll in Himachal is set to be a critical test for the ruling Congress

With byelections for the six Assembly constituencies — that fell vacant after six rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly — to be held simultaneously with the parliamentary elections on June 1, the ruling Congress government in the State will be facing a critical test.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg on Saturday said that the Assembly byelection for Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Lahaul-Spiti, Barsar, Gagret, and Kutlehar constituencies will be held on June 1.

Also Read | Himachal Pradesh political crisis | Six Congress MLAs, who cross-voted in BJP’s favour, disqualified

Six Congress legislators were disqualified from the State Legislative Assembly in February. They cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27. The rebel Congress MLAs have approached the Supreme Court against their disqualification. The ground for their disqualification was their absence from the Assembly when the State Budget and the Finance Bill were being put to the vote, defying a party whip to vote in favour of the government.

In the 68-member Assembly, the majority figure is 35. The ruling Congress had 40 MLAs, but with the disqualification of six MLAs, the Congress’ number fell to 34. With the disqualification episode, the total number of members in the House has dropped to 62 and the majority figure stands at 32, and the bypoll schedule announced, the threat over the continuance of the government can’t be underestimated. The BJP has 25 MLAs in the Assembly while three are independent MLAs. The Congress needs to ensure that it wins at least one seat in the bypoll to retain majority in the Assembly. While this doesn’t sound like a difficult task, the BJP appears all set to give a tough challenge to the ruling Congress to unseat it from power, and the Congress, which has been suffering from factionalism, will have to pull up its socks to keep its position safe. 

Also Read | Congress government fights for survival in Himachal Pradesh

The four Lok Sabha seats that will go for polling on June 1 include Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, and Shimla, which the BJP swept in 2019. However, the BJP suffered a setback in 2021, when the party’s candidate lost the byelection in the Mandi parliamentary constituency to the Congress. The byelection for Mandi was necessitated after BJP MP Ram Swaroop’s death.