He was the Bharatiya Janata Party's Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2017 Himachal Assembly Election, in which he lost his seat.

BJP's Shanta Kumar also requested to disclose names of people whose phones were tapped during Dhumal's tenure.

[5] In 1984, he was selected as the candidate for the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency when the sitting Member of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (MLA), and state stalwart Jagdev Chand, refused to stand.

[4] Dhumal resigned his seat in the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly upon winning the Hamirpur constituency in a 2007 by-election for the Lok Sabha.

[8] Dhumal became Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh for a second time after being sworn in on 30 December 2007 after the BJP won that year's assembly elections.

Even though the BJP gained majority in the elections, Dhumal lost to Rajinder Rana from the Indian National Congress, thwarting his chances to lead the government for the third time in Himachal Pradesh.