In a bid to ensure their party candidates' victory in the three assembly by-elections scheduled to be held on July 21, both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP have deployed large contingents of their star campaigners.
These elections are expected to result in significant changes in the State politics because if the Congress wins all the three seats then their Government would get stability till 2017 as the party's strength would then be touching the magic figure of 35 in a House of 70 members or if they lose then they will have to run the Government with the support of alliance partners only.
The Congress Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, who has been admitted to the AIIMS in Delhi after a chopper mishap while he was on way to Delhi from Dehradun on June 13, has been addressing public meetings through video conferencing or via mobile. The election would be an acid test for him. If the BJP wins the seats then they would reach the 31 mark.
Of the three Assembly seats, Doiwala and Somewshwar were vacated by BJP MlAs Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Ajay Tamta, respectively, after becoming MPs in the recently held lok Sabha election, while Dharchula seat was vacated by Congress MlA Harish Dhami to facilitate the CM’s entry into the Vidhan Sabha as an elected member which is mandatory within six months of taking office. Rawat was made Chief Minister last February.
Several senior leaders of both the parties will visit Uttarakhand to canvass for their candidates in the next fortnight. Both the parties have released their lists of star campaigners.
As per the BJP State head office, their senior leader lK Advani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, other Union Cabinet ministers such as Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Vainkaiyya Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Uma Bharti and Smriti Irani will campaign for the party candidates. Other senior leaders expected to campaign are Murli Manohar Joshi, Anant Kumar, JP Nadda, Amit Shah, Ram lal, Saudan Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shanawaz Hussein, Navjot Singh Sidhu, ex-CM Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, state BJP president Tirath Singh Rawat, leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt, State deputy president Madan Kaushik, State general secretary Prakash Pant, Naresh Bansal, MP Tarun Vijay, Ajay Tamta, Rani Rajya lakshmi Shah, MlA Harbans Kapur and state leaders Suresh Joshi and Kedar Joshi.
According to the state the PCC office, their star campaigners' list, which was released by the AICC treasurer Moti lal Vohra, includes state Congress incharge Ambika Soni, CM Harish RAwat, ex-CM Vijay Bahuguna, state PCC president Kishore Upadhyaya, Prakash Joshi, Sanjay Kapur, Cabinet minister Indira Hridayesh, Yashpal Arya, Dr Harak Singh Rawat, Preetam Singh, Dinesh Aggrawal, Surendra Singh Negi, MP Mahendra Singh Mahra, Mahendra Singh Pal, ex-MP Pradeep Tamta, MlAs Navprabhat, Rajendra Bhandari, Ganesh Godiyal, Mayukh Mahar, Madan Singh Bisht, Subodh Uniyal, Prof Jeet Ram, Sarita Arya, Hemesh Kharkwal, lalit Farswan, Manoj Tiwari, Narayan Ram Arya, Shaila Rani Rawat, ex-MlAs Harish Dhami, Shoorveer Singh Sajwan, Tilak Raj Behad, Ranjit Singh Rawat, Gagan Rajwar, Karan Mahra and Jot Singh Ghunsola, Sarojini Kaintura, Bhuwan Kapri, Ram Vilas Rawat, Sumitra Bhullar and Prayag Bhatt.