BJP candidate Ashish Sharma files nomination for Hamirpur assembly bypoll

Hamirpur: BJP candidate for the Hamirpur assembly seat bypoll Ashish Sharma filed his nomination papers here amid a show of strength by the party.

Sharma is one of the three independent legislatures who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27. Later, they resigned as MLA and joined the BJP.

The by-elections to three assembly constituencies - Hamirpur, Nalagarh and Dehra - would be held on July 10.

Before filing the nomination papers, Sharma offered puja at a Shiva temple at Gasota with his wife.

He said his victory is certain as he served the constituency to the best of his capacity and would continue to do so.

Later, the BJP presented a united front in a rally which was attended by all state and district-level leaders.

Speaking at the rally, state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal blasted the Congress-led state government, terming it "mitron ke sarkar (government of friends)" only.

"On one hand, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu cries about a debt liability, and on the other liberally spends money for friends", said Bindal, adding dozens of his friends got cabinet ranks without contesting elections and they are a burden on the government treasury.

Former Union minister and local MP Anurag Thakur said the BJP was a party of the people and this had been proved during the last Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP won all the four seats in the state.

Giving a clarion call to the people to vote for the BJP in all the three seats, Thakur said the Congress was harming the cause of the nation and raising issues irrelevant to the present context.

He said the HP government is anti-people and would be voted out of power.

Former chief minister and incumbent Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said the time has come to oust the Congress from power to pave the way for a democratic government that works for the real cause of the people.

The Congress has fielded Pushpendra Verma from the seat.

In the 2022 assembly elections, Ashish Sharma, who was then contesting as an Independent, had defeated Pushpendra Verma by a margin of 12,899 votes.