Newly elected MLAs to take oath on July 22

Shimla, July 18

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania will administer the oath of office to three newly elected legislators from Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh on July 22.

The Congress has won the Dehra and Nalagarh seats in the byelections while the BJP has won the Hamirpur seat. Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, won the Dehra bypoll in Kangra district, Hardeep Singh Bawa wrested Nalagarh while Ashish Sharma won the Hamirpur seat.

A total of nine Assembly byelections were held in Himachal in June and July. Now, the Congress has a strength of 40 legislators in the Assembly while the BJP has 28 MLAs. The byelections were held after three former Independent MLAs resigned from the Assembly and joined the BJP.