In a bid to assess the party situation in Doiwala assembly constituency, which will be vacated by incumbent MlA and ex CM Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank after swearing in as Member of Parliament from Haridwar, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has called a meeting of party leaders especially those having a presence in Doiwala constituency on Friday.
Talking to The Pioneer, Rawat said that two seats- Doiwala and Someshwar will be vacated by the BJP MlAs Nishank and Ajay Tamta respectively following their election as MPs. For the CM, who will have to become a member of third elected Vidhan Sabha before August 1 otherwise he will have to resign from the Chief Minister's post, the constituency to contest from will be decided after enforcement of Model Code of Conduct for Panchayat election for which notification is slated to happen by May 26.
There is discussion in political circle that congress MlA Harish Dhami has announced that he would vacate his seat (Dharchula) in favour of CM Harish Rawat so that CM can become a member of Vidhan Sabha by contesting Dharchula by-poll, CM said "it is good that people are concerned about me but the I am yet to take a final call on it."
Political analyst said that CM Rawat got the golden opportunity to achieve comfortable majority in the State assembly because two seats are going to be vacated by the MlAs in next fortnight. If he manages to win these two seats then congress MlAs number would reach 36 including one nominated member out of 70 members Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha. By winning these two seats State Government would have the support of 43 MlA including seven member of Progressive Democratic front (PDF). In this perspective Chief Minister is taking very calculative steps and its impact would be visible after declaration of two vacant seats by Election Commission of India (ECI).
Sources said that Congress may ask Ex-MP Pradeep Tamta to contest from Someshwar Assembly seat, which is a reserve seat and currently being represented by BJP MlA Ajay Tamta, because the seat comes under Almora Parliamentary constituency and he is one of the close confidant of CM Rawat.