BJP wins Dharamshala bypoll in Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate loses deposit

Mr. Nehriya defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Kumar, an independent candidate.

The ruling BJP on Thursday won the Dharamshala bypoll in Himachal Pradesh, with its candidate Vishal Nehriya winning by a margin of 6,673 votes.

Mr. Nehriya defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Kumar, an independent candidate. Congress candidate Vijay Inder Karan was at a distant third place.

Mr. Karan lost his security deposit in the bypoll as he failed to get even the required one-sixth of the total votes polled. He could get only 8,212 votes out of the valid 5,2485 votes polled. He got 15.64 per cent votes whereas he was required to get 16.67 percent (one-sixth) of total valid votes to save his deposit.

The main contest was between BJP candidate Vishal Nehria and rebel candidate Rakesh Kumar, who contested as an Independent.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the victory margin of Kishan Kapoor of the BJP over Sudhir Sharma of the Congress was of 2,997 votes in Dharamshala.