Himachal Pradesh Dalhousie Result 2022: Six-time Congress MLA Asha Kumari loses in Dalhousie

Himachal Pradesh Dalhousie Result 2022:  BJP candidate D S Thakur defeated six-time Congress MLA Asha Kumari in Himachal Pradesh's Dalhousie assembly seat by a margin of 9,918 votes, according to the Election Commission.

Kumari is among the chief ministerial candidates in case Congress wins the assembly elections. 

Dalhousie in Chamba district shot into the limelight after veteran Congress leader and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh's aide Harsh Mahajan joined the BJP and queered the pitch for arch-rival Kumari, who is seeking re-election from the constituency. 

His support to Thakur was a boost for the BJP which is looking to come to power in the hill state again. 

Mahajan is the son of former Congress stalwart Des Raj Mahajan who was assembly speaker twice and had won from the Dalhousie constituency in 1967, 1972, and 1982. 

The Dalhousie seat has a large rural population (89.78 per cent) and saw bad roads and a shortage of staff and infrastructure in health facilities and educational institutions becoming major poll issues. 

Kumari, who is from the erstwhile royal family of Chamba, was elected for the first time in 1985 and got reelected in 1993, 1998, 2003, 2012, and 2017. 

The former Congress in-charge of Punjab and an ex-minister, Kumari is the tallest leader in the district. 

In 2012, Kumari defeated her BJP rival Renu Chadda with a margin of 7,365 but in 2017, her victory margin against Thakur got reduced to 556.

Legislative Assembly elections were held in Himachal Pradesh on 12 November 2022 to elect 68 members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. There were 412 contesting candidates, majorly from BJP, Congress, and others like CPIM, AAP, and BSP.

In the 2017 assembly election in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP won 44 seats and the Congress won 21 seats. One seat went to the CPI-M, and two to independent candidates.  

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