Speculation on whether Chief Minister Harish Rawat would contest the Assembly bypolls from two seats ended on Thursday with the names of Congress candidates for the Assembly bypoll in three constituencies of Uttarakhand being declared by the party.
Chief minister Harish Rawat has been fielded from Dharchula Assembly constituency, former State cabinet Minister Hira Singh Bisht from Doiwala constituency and Rekha Arya from Someshwar constituency. Chief minister Harish Rawat, hospitalised at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, has thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi for declaration of the party candidates and expressed confidence at the chances of the Congress candidates winning the bypolls by a substantial margin.
According to the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president, Kishore Upadhyaya, in order to facilitate coordination between the candidates and party workers the All India Congress Committee has also appointed three Cabinet Ministers as observers- Indira Hridayesh for Someshwar, Yashpal Arya for Dharchula and Surendra Singh Negi for Doiwala constituency. Upadhyaya has exhorted the party workers to unite and work for ensuring victory for Congress candidates in the Assembly bypolls. On being questioned regarding the inability of the CM to campaign for the bypolls since he is expected to remain in hospital for some time, the media in-charge Chief Minister’s Office, Surendra Kumar Agrawal said that the CM does not need to campaign because the people themselves will ensure his victory.
It is pertinent to mention here that though the BJP has not yet declared the names of its candidates for the Assembly bypolls, Rawat is expecting a comfortable win from Dharchula. On the other hand, former Cabinet Minister Hira Singh Bisht had lost the 2012 Assembly poll from Doiwala constituency to the BJP candidate, Ramesh Pokhriyal, ‘Nishank’. Rekha Arya had contested the 2012 Assembly election from Someshwar as an independent candidate after being denied the Congress ticket. She had lost the election and later joined the BJP from where she returned to the Congress a couple of days ago reportedly on being assured the party ticket to contest the Assembly bypolls from Someshwar.
It is worth mentioning here that the Election Commission of India has already issued notification for the bypolls for which the polling will take place on July 21 followed by counting on July 25.