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BJP, Congress declare candidates for Salt bypolls in Uttarakhand
The assembly seat was lying vacant after BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena succumbed to Covid-19 last November.
Ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress declared their respective candidates for the upcoming bypolls in Uttarakhand’s Salt constituency of Almora district on Monday.
The assembly seat was lying vacant after BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena succumbed to Covid-19 last November. The voting for the bypolls would be held on April 17 with its results to be declared on May 2.
While BJP declared Jeena’s elder brother Mahesh Singh Jeena as their candidate, Congress declared the name of Geeta Pancholi who had lost to Jeena in the 2017 state assembly elections.
By declaring Mahesh Singh Jeena as the candidate, the ruling party has attempted to play the sympathy card to garner votes. The party chose him from the panel of total six probable candidates which was sent by the state leadership to its parliamentary board in Delhi to take the final call.
The Congress, on the other hand, handed the ticket to Pancholi who is considered to have a strong hold in the area as she was also the party’s candidate against Jeena in the 2017 assembly polls to whom she lost by about 2,900 votes. She was chosen over Vikram Rawat, son of former MLA Ranjit Rawat who was once considered former CM Harish Rawat’s close aide.
After declaring their candidates, both BJP and Congress laid their claims to win the bypolls which is considered as the litmus test for both parties before next year’s state assembly polls.
BJP state unit in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam said, “The party is fully confident of winning the bypolls with a big margin because people of the state are aware of the development works done by our government in the past four years of our tenure. After winning this bypoll, we will repeat the feat in next year’s assembly elections.”
The Congress, however, refused to give BJP a cakewalk in the bye-elections and said it will fight the elections “with all its might.”
Party state unit in-charge Devendra Yadav said, “The party is very serious about the bypolls as it will give an opportunity to test the mood of the people ahead of 2022 state assembly polls. We will fight it leaving no stone unturned and win it.”
