Crucial test for Congress in Himachal Pradesh, six bypoll will decide govt fate

Shimla: The political storm rising from the cross-voting and later disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs seems to have not fully subsided in Himachal Pradesh.

While rebel MLAs are waiting for relief from the Supreme Court on their petition challenging disqualification, the Congress has multiple worries not alone to weather the storm but also about winning the state Assembly by poll on six constituencies of ousted MLAs.

The impact of political disquiet in the Congress is going to impact the Lok Sabha as well as the state Assembly bypoll on which the Congress is not on strong footing even as it had won the state Assembly polls in 2022.

The Congress returned to power winning 40 seats against 25 of the BJP in the 68-member House was a clear mandate to the party for the five-year rule. The rebellion caused by the cross-voting by six MLAs—now disqualified, has reduced the party‘s strength in the House to 34 –one less than the majority.

In this context, the Congress must win at least one or two seats to give stability to the government under the changed conditions.

The bypoll to the state Assembly seats coinciding with the Lok Sabha elections has made the scenario quite interesting in the small state where the BJP and Congress replace each other to form the government.Now, things are not very much in the hands of the Congress, particularly Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

“He may have temporarily countered the BJP bid to topple the government via rebellion of the Congress MLAs and also a sitting Cabinet minister Vikramaditya Singh but the stability of the government will now depend on the state Assembly bypoll on six seats,” admits a Cabinet minister.

This election will decide the direction not only of Congress and BJP but also of the Sukhu government of the state. After the Rajya Sabha elections—which the Congress lost to the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan, this will be another test for the government.

The BJP, on the other hand, is hoping to pull the rugs under the feet of the Chief Minister and eventually end the congress rule in the state.