Beating all odds, Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa has secured a decisive victory in the Nalagarh assembly by-election, defeating his closest rival, BJP’s KL Thakur, by a margin of 8,990 votes. Bawa received a total of 34,608 votes, while Thakur garnered 25,618 votes.
Out of the total 74,542 votes cast, Hardeep Singh Bawa achieved 46.43% of the votes, while KL Thakur received 34.37%. This significant win for Bawa comes after his previous unsuccessful attempts in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections.
In a surprising turn of events, BJP rebel Harpreet Saini, who contested the by-election as an independent candidate, received 13,025 votes, securing 17.47% of the vote share. 446 voters opted for NOTA.
The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of KL Thakur from the assembly. Thakur had won the 2022 assembly election as an independent candidate before joining the BJP.
Nalagarh has traditionally been considered a stronghold of the BJP. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP candidate had a lead of over 10,000 votes from this segment. However, the comprehensive and aggressive campaign by the Congress party managed to turn the tide in their favour.
Hardeep Singh Bawa’s victory is a significant morale booster for the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh. The win reflects a potential shift in voter sentiment and demonstrates the effectiveness of the Congress’s strategic campaigning in Nalagarh.
