Uttarakhand Keycandidate Detail

Aam Aadmi Party is contesting the assembly polls for the first time in Uttarakhand, and its chief ministerial candidate Col (Retd) Ajay Kothiyal has chosen to fight from the Gangotri constituency, which the BJP and Congress won in alternative years over the last four assembly elections. He is banking heavily on the reconstruction work he did in Kedarnath area after 2013 tragedy. There is a belief in the political circles of Uttarakhand that whichever party wins the Gangotri seat eventually forms the government. Col Kothiyal is pitted against BJP’s Suresh Chauhan and Congress’ VS Sajwan. Kothiyal, also a mountaineer, Everest summiteer and former principal of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, runs a non-profit trust named Youth Foundation that trains youths from Uttarakhand to join the Indian Army.