Polling for the by-election to the Champawat Assembly seat in Uttarakhand began on Tuesday morning. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is in the fray to retain his chair, said the constituency will “create history” with “100 per cent voting”.
“I extend my greetings to every voter from Champawat for the by-election being held today. People have started coming to the polling centres. A new history of Champawat will be created today by 100 per cent voting,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Counting of votes will take place on June 3. There are 96,213 voters in the Champawat constituency, including 50,171 men and 46,042 women.
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On Tuesday morning, the chief minister offered prayers at a temple in Khatima and later visited a polling booth in Banbasa. Dhami had lost from the Khatima seat in the last Assembly election.
Despite the BJP winning the Assembly election in the hill state with a majority, Dhami could not retain his seat and lost to Congress’ Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes.
{{/usCountry}}Despite the BJP winning the Assembly election in the hill state with a majority, Dhami could not retain his seat and lost to Congress’ Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes.
{{/usCountry}}Senior BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, have campaigned for Dhami ahead of the bypolls.
The Champawat seat was won by the BJP's Kailash Chandra Gehtori in the 2022 election, as well as the 2017 election. Gehtori quit to allow Dhami a second shot at an Assembly seat. Dhami needs to fulfill to win a seat within six months of being sworn in, as per rules.
The Congress has nominated Nirmala Gehtori for the seat after its earlier defeated candidate – Hemesh Kharkwal - turned down a second shot. Other candidates in the fray are Manoj Kumar Bhatt from the Samajwadi Party and Independent candidate Himanshu Gadkoti.
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Earlier, Congress general secretary Harish Rawat had said the party will give the chief minister a 'tough fight'. "We will make it a tough fight for the CM. Earlier, voters were vocal about supporting the chief minister, but after our persuasion, they have gone silent and are contemplating what they should do," he had said.
(With agency inputs)