23 first-time MLAs in Himachal Assembly, big names disappoint.

December 12, 2022

Among the 68 newly elected legislators, 23 are first-timers —14 of the Congress, eight of BJP and one Independent.
Eight Cabinet minister lost the elections. Only three — outgoing Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and his cabinet colleagues Bikram Singh and Sukh Ram Chaudhary — managed to retain their seats. Former BJP president Rajeev Bindal, who was elected MLA five times in a row, lost the elections.
Thirty-six outgoing MLAs will not be members of the 14th Assembly; 26 members lost the elections while 10 others did not contest. Senior Congress leaders and former ministers, including Kaul Singh, Asha Kumari and Ram Lal Thakur, also lost the elections.
The new faces include Lokender Singh (Anni), Dr Janak Raj (Bharmour), Trilok Jamwal (Bilaspur), DS Thakur (Dalhousie), Puran Chand (Darang), Deep Raj (Karsog), Dilip Singh (Sarkaghat) and Ranvir Singh Nikka (Nurpur), all from the BJP.
The Congress gained 20 seats and increased its tally to 40 in the 68-member House. Its 14 new faces include Suresh Kumar (Bhoranj), Neeraj Nayyar (Chamba), Sudarshan Singh Babloo (Chintpurni), Chander Shekhar (Dharampur), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret), Malender Rajan (Indora), Devinder Kumar (Kutlehar), Bhuvneshar Gaur (Manali), Raghuvir Singh Bali (Nagrota), Ajay Solanki (Nahan), Kewal Singh Pathania (Shahpur), Harish Janartha (Shimla), Kuldeep Rathore (Theog) and Vinod Sultanpuri (Kasauli).
Independent MLA Ashish Sharma, a BJP rebel, was elected from Hamirpur.
The new Assembly has three six-time MLAs, namely Jai Ram Thakur, Chander Kumar and Harshwardhan Chauhan.
Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Mukesh Agnihotri, Anil Sharma and Kuldeep Singh Pathania are all five-time legislators.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukku, former BJP president Satpal Singh Satti, Speaker Vipin Parmar, Jagat Singh Negi, Nand Lal, Rohit Thakur, Sudhir Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Bikram Singh and Sukh Ram Chaudhary are among the four-time legislators.
There are 11 three-time MLAs and 18 two-time legislators.