About 71 lakh voters will cast their votes to decide the fate of 74 candidates contesting for five lok Sabha seats of the State where BJP and Congress candidates have locked their horns for each seat.
Candidates of the BJP which was presuming 5-0 victory in the State during Vijay Bahuguna's chief ministership, were seen panting during campaign and now they are facing tough fight in each of the five parliamentary constituencies in Uttarakhand. Interestingly, this time male voters will decide fate of each candidate because female voters' number is lesser than male.
The State has five lok Sabha seats namely Tehri, Garhwal, Almora, Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar. The BJP is getting support of the Modi wave, while Congress is getting support of incumbent chief minister Harish Rawat only because CM Rawat appealed to the people that he would serve them if they voted for his party. Receiving tough contest from CM Rawat and his core group, BJP started an advertisement war and tried its best to rub salt on wounds of disaster victims. To counter the allegations, Congress also released advertisements and mentioned most the CM Rawat's development government order or work in calamity hit State to balance the scale amid fear of anti incumbency wave nationwide.
Although AAP, BSP and SP tried their best to make the contest triangular on three lok Sabha seats- Nainital, Haridwar and Tehri, but could not succeed. To make election more interesting BJP had fielded three ex-CMs namely Bhagat Singh Koshiyari from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar, Maj Gen (retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri from Garhwal and Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' from Haridwar and one each MP and MlA Mala Rajya laxmi Shah and Ajay Tamta from Tehri and Almora respectively.
Besides it Congress has fielded two sitting MPs namely KC Singh 'Baba' and Pradeep Tamta from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and Almora respectively of Kumaon division. In Garhwal division they have fielded Renuka Rawat, Harak Singh Rawat and Saket Bahuguna from Haridwar, Garhwal and Tehri respectively. Interestingly, all three candidates have tasted defeat in past lok Sabha elections. Harak Singh Rawat had contested from Pauri (now Garhwal) on BSP ticket in 1998; Renuka Rawat had contested election from Almora in 2004 on Congress ticket and Saket Bahuguna had contested Tehri lok Sabha by poll in 2012.
Haridwar lok Sabha seat is known as a religious city, but BJP has not won the seat since inception of Uttarakhand in 2000. In 2004, which was first general election after formation of Uttarakhand, SP had won the seat and in 2009, then Congress senior leader Harish Rawat had won the seat with record margin. This time, Haridwar lok Sabha seat has become hot among five seats of the State because ex-Chief Minister
Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is contesting election against Renuka Rawat, wife of sitting Haridwar MP and incumbent chief minister Harish Rawat, officially, but CM Rawat is contesting proxy election with Dr Nishank.