Salt bypoll: BJP’s Mahesh Jeena wins election, defeats Cong’s Ganga Pancholi
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mahesh Jeena won the Salt bypoll in Uttarakhand, defeating Congress’s Ganga Pancholi, with over 4,600 votes, as per the statistics
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mahesh Jeena won the Salt bypoll in Uttarakhand, defeating Congress’s Ganga Pancholi, with over 4,600 votes, as per the statistics.
Jeena bagged 21,874 votes while his rival from Congress got 17,177 votes. The rest of the five candidates could register less than 1,000 votes. The number of people who opted for NOTA (None of the Above) was 721, while the number of rejected votes was 63, said district administration officials.
Devendra Bhasin, state BJP spokesperson, said victory in Salt shows people in the state continue to repose their trust in the BJP and its working. “This is very clear now that in the elections next year, people will again vote for the BJP. This win would be a tribute to Jeena as his brother will now carry forward his dreams of development in the area. He has fought for the development of Salt and people never forgot that Congress tried various tricks in its bag to mislead people. People of Salt constituency have given a befitting reply to them,” he said.
Suryakant Dhasmana, state Congress vice president said the party lost the elections as the BJP played the ‘sympathy card’. “Their campaigning was not focussed on the main issues faced by the people of the state. They just focussed on the sympathy factor. Otherwise, tell in which area of the state is the youth happy with the state government? The youth wants employment, relief from the price hike, better health infrastructure. Where is all that? People are dying because it is not there”, he said.
The by-election for Salt constituency in Uttarakhand’s Almora district, which has 96,241 voters - 49,193 make and 47,048 female voters, was held on April 17. The constituency was lying vacant after BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena succumbed to Covid-19 last November, necessitating fresh elections.
The BJP fielded Jeena’s elder brother Mahesh Jeena as its candidate, while from Congress’ side Ganga Pancholi was given a ticket. Pancholi stood against Surendra Singh Jeena in the 2017 state assembly polls but lost by about 3,000 votes.
As a litmus test ahead of the assembly elections in the state next year, both parties tried hard to woo the voters with senior party leaders from both parties holding poll rallies in support of their respective candidates. During the campaigning, the BJP focussed on its achievements, development plank, good work done by their deceased legislator and the promise that if their candidate is elected, they will redress all the issues faced by the people of the area.
Congress focussed on highlighting that BJP made tall promises of development and employment to the public of the state during the poll campaigning in 2017, but failed on every aspect of development in the last four years of its rule. Congress tried to make unemployment its main election issue.
MM Semwal, political expert and professor of political science at Garhwal Central University, Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal, said results of this bypoll have hinted at the public mood for the next assembly polls. “It was also the first test for both CM Tirath Singh Rawat and BJP state president Madan Kaushik who have been newly appointed. And this results will force Congress to evaluate itself for the next year,” he said.
