The resignation of the Independents has caused the House strength to decrease to 59, necessitating bypolls for nine seats. This is the exact difference between the number of seats held by the Congress and BJP. While the Sukhu government is not immediately threatened, the turmoil within the Congress continues, causing concern for the high command. Sukhu's focus will now shift towards winning the six Assembly seats to secure his government, rather than focusing on the Lok Sabha battle.
Two influential leaders, Sudhir Sharma and Rajinder Rana, are among the MLAs. Sharma, the son of former Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pandit Santram, has been elected as an MLA four times, while Rana has been elected three times. Lakhanpal is also a three-time MLA. The Congress is also worried about the next steps of its state unit president, Pratibha Singh, and her son, Vikramaditya Singh, who is a state minister. Pratibha, who is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Mandi, has already announced that she will not contest again, indicating that the party's chances in the Lok Sabha polls may not be strong.
In a significant development for the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, six disqualified Congress MLAs and three Independent MLAs from Himachal Pradesh, who had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections last month, have joined the party in New Delhi on Saturday. This provides a boost to the BJP's prospects in the upcoming elections. The BJP’s decision to induct the Congress rebels and Independents is not just a psychological blow to the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, but will also ensure that the state government remains on edge for the next two months, until the bypolls are over. Following the cross-voting last month, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan had won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state by a draw of lots, after a tie of 34 votes each in the 68-member Assembly. The Congress had fielded veteran party leader Abhishek Manu Si.