Most sought-after seat!

It is firmly believed that the party which wins from here will form the Govt

Election to the Gangotri seat in Uttarkashi district is special as it is strongly believed that the party which wins this seat would form the Government.

Political tide has been turning alternately since the maiden Assembly election of the State in 2002, the trend continues, making the rivals a bit nervy to win the seat anyhow to pave way for their parties to form the Government. 

Since 2002, the Congress won the seat twice — in 2002 and 2012 while the BJP bagged the seat once in 2007. And queerly enough, the Congress formed the Government in 2002 and 2012 while the BJP in 2007.

Senior leaders of both the national parties, vying for power, are still lending credence to the legend. State Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay told The Pioneer that aware of the popular belief of the seat being jinxed, his party is leaving no stone unturned to register its repeat victory from the seat.

The State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Ajay Bhatt concurred with him and said his party is all set to wrest the seat from the Congress and also to form the next Government, trouncing Congress.

Eleven candidates are in the fray from this important constituency. However, the main contest is likely between Vijay Pal Sajwan of Congress who won the seat for the party both during 2002 and 2012 elections and Gopal Singh Rawat of BJP who won the seat during 2007 election.

The constituency having 80,398 voters — 41,637 males and 38,761 females — there are 165 polling centres — 11 in the urban and 154 in the rural areas.

In the first Assembly election- 2002, Congress candidate Vijay Pal Singh Sajwan won the seat by a narrow margin of 610 votes, defeating his nearest BJP candidate Kamala Ram Nautiyal. Sajwan polled 7878 votes while Nautiyal secured 7,268 votes. In the 2007 election, the tide turned as Gopal Singh Rawat of BJP defeated Vijay Pal Singh Sajwan with a thumping  margin of nearly 5, 546 votes. Rawat polled 24,250 votes while Sajwan was contended with 18,704 votes. In the 2012 elections, Vijay Pal Singh Sajwan turned the table on BJP’s Gopal Singh Rawat, trouncing him by 7,023 votes. Sajwan polled 20,246 votes while Rawat was contended with 13,223 votes.

An eminent psychologist based in Dehradun said it is just a myth and Uttarakhand being replete with such myths, it is difficult for the politicians who are generally superstitious to rid themselves of the queer belief tagged to the seat.