The victory of Congress candidate from the prestigious Kedarnath Assembly constituency has served as the only solace for outgoing Chief Minister Harish Rawat, otherwise battered by a severe electoral drubbing in the recent Assembly elections. Kedarnath constituency is one of the only eleven Assembly segments in Uttarakhand where Congress party candidates were able to register victories despite a strong undercurrent propelled by Narendra Modi in favour of te BJP. Here a newcomer journalist turned politician Manoj Rawat won in a multi cornered contest defeating his nearest inpendent rival Kuldeep Rawat by a margin of 869 votes. Interestingly the BJP candidate (one of the turncoat MlAs of Congress) Shaila Rani Rawat finished fourth in the contest.
Harish Rawat had made success of reconstruction activities in Kedarnath in the aftermath of the disaster of 2013 as one of his major plank of elections. Rawat also claimed credit of bringing back the Char Dham Yatra on track. Almost in every election meeting Rawat used to highlight the achievement of his government in Kedarnath. The outgoing Chief Minister made a record number of visits to Kedarnath temple and even organised a cultural night in Kedarnath in which famous bollywood singer Kailash Kher performed. This programme was however mired in controversy as his opponents questioned Rawat for wasting money. The reconstruction activities in Kedarnath were even appreciated by senior BJP leaders like Uma Bharati.
There was speculation that Harish Rawat could contest from Kedarnath but he finally opted to contest from assembly segments of Haridwar rural and Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar district. However Rawat was defeated from both these places.
Young Manoj Rawat though has kept the flag of Congress high in Kedarnath. It is pertinent to mention here that Kedarnath is only assembly in Garhwal lok Sabha constituency consisting of fourteen assembly segments from where Congress has won. In remaining thirteen BJP has made a clean sweep. When contacted by The Pioneer, Manoj Rawat credited Harish Rawat for his victory. “Kedarnath temple is deeply associated with the psyche of the people here and they have appreciated the success of reconstruction works. The Char Dham Yatra is the backbone of economy of the region and now it is firmly back on track courtesy Harish Rawat. People of the area acknowledge the good works done by Rawat government and have voted for Congress here,’’ he said.