The state seemingly heading for a hung House, both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party are pulling out all the stops to register a win in the Karnprayag Assembly seat where the election, countermanded following the death of the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Kuldeep Singh Kanwasi in a road accident three days before the February 15 election, would be held on March 9.
With both the parties going neck and neck with the possibility of the one edging past the other by the skin of its teeth, they are playing the emotive card of Gairsain being declared the permanent capital of the mountain state. Notably, Gairsain falls in the Karnprayag segment. While Congress with its star campaigner the
Chief Minister Harish Rawat leading the campaign from the front is flaunting its determination to go ahead with the matter, BJP, on the other hand, is lambasting the ruling party for taking the highlanders for a ride, indulging in flippancy while remaining equivocal on the transfer of the capital. Notably, the Congress won the seat in 2012 election by a slender margin with the BJP candidate relegated to the third position.
The Congress-led State Government with Vijay Bahuguna at its helm convened a cabinet meeting at Gairsain in 2012 and it was followed by the laying of the foundation stone of the Assembly building in 2013. Change of guard followed on February 1, 2014 with then Union minister Harish Rawat taking over the reign of the state. Things continued even after the change of guard with the state government convening an Assembly session in a makeshift building in June 2014. Since then, a session was being convened at Gairsain every year. In 2015, the session was held in the ITI building and the attending MlAs were accommodated in the newly constructed MlA hostel during the session.
However, to land the state government in embarrassment during the 2015 special session, BJP had brought a bill, demanding the State Government to clear its stance on Gairsain as the permanent capital of the state.
The 2016 session being held in the newly built Assembly building, the ruling party sent the message across the state that they had a road map cut out to bring things to its logical consummation. BJP, however, raised harangues again, asking the state government to commit itself on the floor of the Assembly to have the capital transferred from Dehradun to Gairsain. But the CM chose to remain non-committal. Enraged, BJP boycotted the session.
The contest is interesting for another reason. The candidates from both the sides- Dr Anusuya Prasad Maikhuri of Congress and Surender Singh Negi of BJP- were in the fray during the 2012 election. However, Negi that time contested as an independent candidate and turned the runner up while the BJP candidate ended up being in the third position.
Observers say that the contest has turned triangular with BSP having fielded the widow of the deceased candidate, Jyoti Kanwasi in the contest in an apparent bid to play the sympathy card.
Interestingly, this is the only one constituency in the state which is being represented by a person from the Brahmin community since inception of Uttarakhand in 2000. While Congress candidate Anusuya Prasad Maikhuri, a Brahmin, had represented the constituency from 2002 to 2007 BJP candidate Anil Nautiyal, again a Brahmin, was elected in the 2007 election. Maikhuri wrested the seat during 2012 election to become the deputy speaker of the state. However, this time, the tradition would rupture if the BJP candidate who is a Thakur wins the seat.