MLAs now MPs, 2 assembly seats in HP headed for bypolls

Shimla: Two assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh are headed for byelections as their legislators have been elected to Parliament in the May 23 Lok Sabha elections.
Pachhad (SC) MLA Suresh Kumar Kashyap is the new MP from Shimla and Dharamshala legislator Kishan Kapoor has been elected to Lok Sabha from Kangra.
There are many aspirants for the BJP tickets from the two seats, but there’s no clarity on who the Congress will field.There is also possibility of a byelection in Mandi assembly segment. Former power minister Anil Sharma is the MLA from the constituency. As his son Aashray Sharma contested the parliamentary polls for the Congress from Mandi Lok Sabha seat and Anil did not campaign for the BJP there, the party is expected to ask him to resign.
Kapoor’s election to Parliament also means that he will be leaving the post of Himachal Pradesh food and civil supplies minister. Having been defeated on all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is expected to face a tough time in contesting the two assembly seats.
In 2012, Congress leader Sudhir Sharma was elected the MLA from Dharamshala, but he lost the assembly seat in the 2017 state polls. Infighting is a problem for the Congress and some leaders have already announced that they will work against Sudhir Sharma if he is fielded from Dharamshala again.
Sudhir Sharma, it is said, lost in 2017 too due to infighting.
In Pachhad, Congress leader Gangu Ram Musafir won seven elections in row from the seat, from 1982 to 2007. However, BJP’s Suresh Kashyap won from here in 2012 and 2017. It would be interesting to see if the Congress reposes faith in Musafir again or fields a new leader.
BJP had made Anil Sharma resign as power minister after the Congress gave the Mandi seat ticket to his son. He had not even attended rallies addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP has 44 MLAs in the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh assembly at present. The remaining include 21 of the Congress, two independents, and one of the CPIM.