Kamlesh Kumari, the wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and 12 others are in the fray for the by-polls to be held on July 10 in three assembly constituencies.

These constituencies include Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh.

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An official spokesperson of the election department said here on Wednesday that 13 candidates are in the fray for the by-polls.

He said that in Hamirpur after withdrawal of nomination by Independent candidate Pradeep Kumar, three candidates are in the election fray.

While from Nalagarh, Independent candidate Gurnam Singh withdrew his nomination papers where now five candidates are contesting.

He said in Dehra, no candidate has withdrawn their nomination and there are five candidates.

In Dehra AC (assembly constituency) of Kangra district, Kamlesh Kumari (53) of Congress, Hoshyar Singh (57) of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Independent candidates Sulekha Devi (59), Arun Ankesh Syal (34), Advocate Sanjay Sharma (56) are in the fray.

Ashish Sharma (37) of BJP, Dr. Pushpinder Verma (48) of INC and Independent candidate Nand Lal Sharma (64) are in the fray from Hamirpur Assembly Constituency.

Hardeep Singh Bawa (44) of INC, K.L. Thakur (64) of BJP, Kishori Lal Sharma (46) of Swabhiman Party and Independent candidates Harpreet Singh (36) and Vijay Singh (36) are in the fray from Nalagarh AC.

The elections in these three ACs were necessitated after the resignation of three independent legislators who tendered their resignation to State Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on March 22 after which they joined BJP the next day.

However, since the Speaker did not accept their resignation, they approached the High Court and staged a sit-in in the State Legislative Assembly premises on March 30.

Two months later, the Speaker accepted their resignation on June 3, after Lok Sabha polls and by-elections in the six Assembly constituencies.