The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying hard to break the past record of not winning assembly elections from Pauri assembly constituency. The party has fielded young candidate Mukesh Koli to break the jinx of not winning from Pauri, which is considered as the heart of Garhwal. The Congress on the other hand has won twice from this seat while in one election an independent candidate scored victory in the elections.
The assembly constituency was reserved for Schedule Caste (SC) in the year 2012. In these elections Congress candidate Sunder lal Mandarwal defeated his BJP rival and comedian turned politician Ghananand by a margin of about 2906 votes. Manohar lal of Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha was third with 6685 votes.
In first assembly elections of the state in 2012 Congress nominee Narendra Singh Bhandari defeated BJP’s Tirath Singh Rawat by a margin of about 750 votes. Bhandari was one the senior leader of Congress that time and was made education minister by Narayan Dutt Tiwari. In the elections of 2007 Bhandari remained a distant third in the contest as Yashpal Benam an independent candidate emerged victorious over Tirath Singh Rawat of BJP by a wafer thin margin of 11 votes.
This time Congress overlooked the natural claim of veteran sitting MlA Mandarwal and instead banked upon Nawal Kishore to maintain the winning streak of the party from here. Kishore is focusing on the positive works of Harish Rawat government and is focusing on development of the area.
The BJP candidate Mukesh Koli told The Pioneer that increasing the job opportunities in the area is one of his major agenda. He is also promising construction of a rope way connecting the Pauri city with Kandolia temple and increasing facilities for tourism in the city and neighboring areas. There are nine candidates in fray from this constituency this time but there is a direct contest between the BJP and Congress candidates.
Pauri incidentally is one the very few constituencies in the state where women outnumber male voters and all candidates are targeting them for votes. Inclement weather is one major constrain faced by the candidates for electioneering but despite this candidates are doing their best to reach out to the electorate. In the campaign both Congress and BJP are ahead of the others and both the candidates are focusing on door to door canvassing.
Political observers feel that it is difficult to access the mood of the voters of the Pauri constituency as the election is still in the initial stages.
They opine that indifferent attitude towards the development of the area would play a major role in the voting with potential to change the view of voters. The Modi effect could also be observed here.