Himachal Pradesh Sukhu

Bypolls To Six Himachal Assembly Seats To Be Held On June 1

Bypolls will be held in six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh on June 1, coinciding with the seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls, on the vacancies that arose due to the disqualification of six Congress MLAs who had cross-voted in Rajya Sabha election last month and defied the party whip in the House during cut motion.

The announcement about the bypolls on 26 assembly seats across various states was made by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar during the press conference on Saturday to announce the schedule of Lok Sabha polls.

In Himchal Pradesh, the bypolls will be held in Lahul and Spiti, Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar and these contests pose a stiff challenge for the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh which seemed to be on the brink following cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election that led to the defeat of party nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi even as the party had a clear majority in the assembly.

The problems for the ruling Congress compounded after Himachal Pradesh PWD Minister Vikaramaditya Singh resigned. His resignation was not accepted even as his mother and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh took jibes at the style of functioning of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. A crisis in the ruling Congress was averted due to the intervention of central party leaders.

Congress in Himachal Pradesh has to prepare for the Lok Sabha polls as also for the crucial bypolls to six assembly seats.

BJP has 25 MLAs in the state assembly and Congress had won 40 seats in the assembly polls held in 2022. In the Rajya Sabha polls, three independents apart from six Congress rebels had voted for the BJP candidate with both BJP and Congress nominees getting 34 votes each.

The Election Commission announced the bypolls to five seats in Gujarat, four in Uttar Pradesh, two in West Bengal and one each in Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karanataka, Tripura, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

All five assembly bypolls in Gujarat are being held due to the resignation of MLAs while that in Karnal in Haryana is being held due to the resignation of former Chief Minister Manhohar Lal Khattar, who is now the BJP candidate for Karnal Lok Sabha seat.

Voting in bypolls will coincide with the date of the Lok Sabha poll in the state and votes will be counted on June 4.

Disqualified Himachal Pradesh MLAs – Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Chaitanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto – had moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the assembly speaker. (ANI)

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Himachal Pradesh Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

Sukhu Declares HP As Natural Calamity-Affected Area

As the rains wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, claiming the lives of over 70 people in the last few days, the government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday declared the whole state as a “natural calamity affected area,” an official statement read.  

The statement came in the wake of destruction caused by incessant rain, triggering flash floods, cloudbursts, landslides, and slope failure taking a heavy toll on lives and property.

The government in a statement said, “Himachal Pradesh has witnessed unprecedented loss of human lives and huge destruction, damage and loss to public and private property during the ongoing monsoon season. The entire State has been badly ravaged by incessant rains leading to floods, cloudbursts, landslides, and slope failure taking a heavy toll on lives and property.”

They said that the unprecedented excessive precipitation has led to a series of challenges that impacted the daily life in the State. 

“Thousands of dwelling units have been damaged or destroyed. There has been unprecedented loss of crops and agricultural land. Thousands of tourists and local people who were stranded had to be evacuated with the help of the Indian Air Force, Army, NDRF, and SDRF, Police. Home Guards, Fire Services and local volunteers. The national highways. state, district and local road network has been severely damaged and destroyed. Dozens of bridges have been washed away or damaged severely hampering connectivity and rescue efforts. The unprecedented excessive precipitation has led to a series of challenges that impacted the daily life in the State,” the statement said. 

“And Whereas, the District Administration supported by the Govt. has been carrying out relief and rescue activities, ever since the onset of Monsoon, working day and night to save lives, provide relief to the affected persons, and restore essential services to minimize the impact the disaster,” it read. 

“Now, therefore, keeping in view the unprecedented grave situation leading to loss of human life and damage, destruction and loss to public infrastructure and private property, the State government has decided to declare the whole State of Himachal Pradesh as ‘Natural Calamity Affected Area’,” it read further. 

The government added that after the weather becomes normal and the accessibility is improved, complete assessments of damage and loss assessment of property, livestock, infrastructure and crops shall be carried out by the respective Districts and Departments which shall be submitted to the Government for recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Earlier, while speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Onkar Chand Sharma, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, said that due to the incessant rainfall from August 13-15, over 70 people have died and that so far, a monetary loss of around Rs 7,500 crore has been reported in this year’s monsoon season. 

Meanwhile, according to the data provided by the state disaster management, 1,762 houses have been fully damaged, and 8,952 houses have been partially damaged, with 113 landslides occurring in this year’s monsoon season. (ANI)

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