No Independent MLA in assembly for first time in electoral history of Himachal
Himachal Pradesh, and the Congress and the BJP coming to power alternately, the presence of Independents has been declining but for the first time in the electoral history of the state, the assembly has no independent MLA. With victory in two out of three assembly by-elections, the strength of Congress has increased to 40. This is also the first time that a husband and wife — CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Kamlesh Thakur — would sit in the house. Kamlesh Thakur's win from Dehra assembly seat has taken the number of women legislators in the state to two.
In the 2022 assembly elections, three Independents namely Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) were elected but they resigned after voting for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in Rajya Sabha election on February 27.
The Independent MLAs resigned on March 22 and joined the BJP the next day. Their resignation was accepted by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on June 3 and by-elections were held on July 10.
All three former Independents legislators got tickets from the BJP but lost to Congress in two seats while the BJP won one seat.
During the election campaign, Chief Minister Sukhu had maintained that the Independent MLAs did not need to resign as «they can support or oppose any party» and questioned why they sought re-election after 15 months when they did not have to.
The Independent MLAs have played an important role in the state's electoral politics. Sixteen independents were elected in 1967 while 12 independents were elected in
