By IANS,
Shimla : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son and sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur has won the state’s Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, a poll official said Saturday.
Anurag Thakur defeated his nearest rival, Narinder Thakur of the Congress by 72,732 votes, state chief electoral officer Anil Khachi told IANS.
Anurag Thakur got 373,598 votes and Narinder Thakur got 300,866 votes.
The BJP’s Suresh Chandel had won Hamirpur for the third consecutive time in 2004 but was expelled from Parliament in 2007 after the cash-for-queries scam.
Dhumal won the by-election in 2007 but quit when he was elected the chief minister.
Anurag Thakur won the by-election in May 2008 by 174,666 votes, defeating Congress candidate O.P. Rattan.
Stakes were high for Dhumal in these polls as the Congress nominee, Narinder Thakur, who had left the BJP, had raised a battle cry against dynastic politics.