Bharatiya Janata Party member and ex-IAS Chanar Ram has sought the party ticket to contest the 2014 election from the Almora Parliamentary seat. He made this disclosure while addressing the media in Dehradun on Wednesday.
Chanar Ram averred that he is the right candidate for the Almora seat. He said that four districts- Almora, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat come under this segment and he is a well known person in that area.
He gave four main reasons that why he should get the party ticket stating that he belongs to Pithoragarh District and most people know him there. Secondly, he was the first Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Bageshwar District for one year 1975-1976 and that most of the development works were facilitated through him in that area at the time. He worked for three years (2002-2006) in Almora District as District Magistrate as earlier Champawat was a Tehsil in Pithoragarh district, all the districts in question are linked and he is known to most of the people, averred Ram.
He also said that in 2009 Ajay Tamta got the party ticket for contesting from this seat but he failed to secure the support of the people and lost the election. “Had I been the candidate then in stead of Tamta, I would have won the election. I was the chairman of the State Schedule Caste Schedule Tribes Commission for three years (2010-2013) and since then I have been working for the betterment of public and party both. In 2012 Assembly elections, Geeta Thakur got the party ticket from Gangolihat which is a reserved seat but she lost in that election whereas I would have secured public support had I been fielded as the party candidate,” he claimed.
He also said that he is a retired IAS officer and during his service he has worked in various regions so he will get maximum support from government and non- government employees of that area which maximises his chances of winning the election, he added.