Express News Service
DEHRADUN: Indian National Congress on Saturday late night announced the first list of candidates for 53 seats in Uttarakhand for upcoming assembly polls on February 14.
The suspense remains on the seats of former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat.
The party has not denied ticket to any of its sitting MLAs.
The Congress had 11 MLAs of which Rajkumar from Purola assembly constituency joined the Bhartiya Janta Party last year in September while Congress MLA from Haldwani and leader of opposition in the state legislative assembly Dr Indira Hridayesh died in June 2021.
Uttarakhand legislative assembly died in June last year limiting the numbers of Congress MLAs to nine.
The nine incumbent MLAs of the party who have been trusted again to contest the elections from their respective constituencies include the names of Manoj Rawat from Kedarnath, Pritam Singh from Chakrata, Mamta Rakesh from Bhagwanpur, Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin from Manglaur, Mohammad Furqan Ahmed from Piran Kaliyar, Harish Singh Dhami from Dharchula, Karan Singh Mahra from Ranikhet, Govind Singh Kunjwal from Jageshwar and Adesh Singh Chauhan from Jaspur.
In the first list of 53, the party has given tickets to only three women- Godawari Thapli from Mussoorie seat, Mamta Rakesh from Bhagwanpur and Meena Sharma from Rudrapur.
Two Muslim candidates, both sitting MLAs from Haridwar district have also been fielded by the party.
Balancing the caste equation the party has given tickets to 20 Thakur candidates who constitute about 35% of the vote share in the state.
Bhuwan Chandra Kapri has been chosen to challenge Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami from his constituency Khatima.
The list includes the names of state party president Ganesh Godiyal who is fielded from Srinagar Assembly constituency, former speaker of the state assembly Govind Singh Kunjwal from Jageshwar seat, former state president of the party and at present holding the position of leader of opposition in party Pritam Singh from Chakrata seat among others.
The grand old party and also given ticket to Yashpal Arya and his son who left the BJP to join the Congress last year.
Yashpal Arya has been fielded from Bajpur constituency while his son has been entrusted by the party on Nainital seat.
Sumit Hridayesh, a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and son of Indira Hridayesh, late leader of opposition has been fielded from Haldwani state assembly constituency by the party.
Party sources told that the central leadership and formed a two-member committee including Mukul Wasnik, general secretary of the AICC to finalize names on rest of the 17 seats in next two-three days.
Nominations for the 70 seats of the state have started on January 21, 2022.
Earlier on January 20, the BJP announced first list of its candidates on 59 seats of Uttarakhand for upcoming elections of 70-member legislative assembly on February 14 denying tickets to 10 sitting MLAs including former CM’s daughter.
Total 10 sitting MLAs have been denied tickets including daughter of former Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and sitting MLA from Yamkeshwar, Ritu Bhushan Khanduri and Raghunath Chauhan, sitting MLA from Almora and deputy speaker of the state assembly.
The list has new names including famous Bollywood singer Jubin Nautiyal’s father Ramsharan Nautiyal from Chakrata assembly seat and wife of Khanpur BJP MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion’s wife Kuwarani Devyani.
Recent defections give Congress major advantage?
The reinduction of Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya into the Congress is being seen as a major gain for the party ahead of the February 14 assembly polls in Uttarakhand.
There was a dearth of big faces in the Congress after the exit of prominent leaders from the party following a revolt against the Harish Rawat government in 2016.
While Harak Singh Rawat, a prominent leader from the Garhwal rejoined the party on Friday, Arya, a major SC leader from Kumaon division returned to the party along with his MLA son Sanjeev in October last year.
Both Rawat and Arya are experienced leaders whose re-entry into the Congress comes as a major boost for the party ahead of the comping assembly polls.
Rawat has never lost in any of the four assembly polls held in Uttarakhand since its creation in 2000 although he contested from four different seats.
He has also held ministerial positions in both undivided Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Yashpal Arya who held key positions like that of the state assembly speaker, Pradesh Congress president and a minister under the chief ministership of both Vijay Bahuguna and Harish Rawat is capable of playing a decisive role for the party on 12 SC seats in the state as he is seen as the tallest Dalit leader in the state.
The SC seats where Yashpal Arya’s presence can shore up the Congress’ chances are Purola, Tharali, Ghansali, Rajpur Road, Jwalapur, Bhagwanpur, Pauri, Gangolihat, Bageshwar, Someshwar, Nainital and Bajpur.
Arya had won from Bajpur in 2017 on a BJP ticket with more than 54,000 votes.
With their return to the party, it does not look like an entirely depleted side in the upcoming polls as it did in 2017 with most of its big leaders adorning the ranks of BJP at that time, political observers here feel.
“Both leaders are seasoned politicians with decades of experience. Their reinduction into the party will definitely brighten its prospects further,” Pradesh Congress general secretary Mathura Dutt Joshi said.
(With PTI Inputs)
