Respite For Congress Govt In Himachal Pradesh As Party Wins 4  Out Of 6 Byelections

Shimla: The Congress government led by Sukhvinder Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh received a major respite on Tuesday as it won four out of six bypolls.

But the Congress was defeated by the BJP in all the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh for the third time in a row.

These bypolls were conducted as the sitting Congress MLAs were suspended after they cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. Later they resigned from the Assembly and joined the BJP.

With four new MLAs added to its stock, the Congress has got a clear majority in the Assembly.

Only two sitting legislators Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, won their seats again.

The Congress candidates who won in the bypolls were Anuradha Rana from Lahaul-Spiti Assembly constituency, Rakesh Kalia the Gagret seat, Captain Ranjit Singh Rana from Sujanpur, and Vivek Sharma from Kutlehar.

The entry of four new Congress legislators into the Assembly comes just a day after Speaker Kuldeep Pathania accepted the resignation of three Independent MLAs, who too had voted along with six Congress legislators in favour of the BJP candidate in the recently held Rajya Sabha election.

With their resignation, the strength of legislators in the 68-strong house has been reduced to 59.

Currently, the Congress has 34 legislators, while the BJP has 25.