With both the Congress party and the BJP claiming their win in the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency, a complex caste combination of the said seat has still left many poll pundits guessing.
With winning the aforesaid parliamentary constituency becoming a case of prestige for both the Congress and the BJP which have always been in direct electoral fight in this seat, it will be historic if the Congress manages to retain the aforesaid seat in the upcoming elections on May 7.
The fact is that though the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat has been a traditional Congress seat, it has not won the same lok Sabha seat in three consecutive terms. Though former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand ND Tiwari has been able to represent this seat three times i.e. in 1980, 1996 and 1999, he could not succeed to register his victories in this seat in a row. Therefore, it will be historic if KC Singh Baba manages to win the trust of the people this time also.
But Baba’s absence from his constituency as the common people here allegedly say, may go against his popularity. At the same time, challenge for the BJP which is riding on a Modi wave is equally high this time as it has won this seat only thrice out of 12 elections held for this lok Sabha seat since 1951. Now since 1998 the BJP has been waiting for a victory in this seat. Therefore, the BJP strategists are keenly watching the elections process in this lok Sabha seat. Yet the party leaders are quite confident to make a comeback in this seat.
“There is huge enthusiasm among the people whom I came across during my visit on the last day of campaigning on Monday to Rudrapur and Dineshpur in Udham Singh Nagar,” said Chandan Mitra, senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP.
“We received a positive response from the common people. More so, they are definitely wishing for a change under the leadership of our Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi,” added Mitra. “So, we are sure that our party candidate from this lok Sabha seat Bhagat Singh Koshiyari would definitely win the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar,” Mitra said.
So, as it has been observed that winning the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat has also become a matter of prestige for both the BJP and Congress this time. Deploying their top leaders in the said lok Sabha seat by the respective parties poll strategists only gives that impression. Among other senior leaders, BJP's Narendra Modi and Congress' Rahul Gandhi also visited Udhamsingh Nagar for campaigning recently.
However, despite the so-called ‘Modi wave’ as the BJP leaders here claim and certain other reasons like the anti- incumbency factor, interestingly, caste politics still comes as a dominating factor in this seat, particularly in the Terai region of this lok Sabha seat.
The Terai area of this parliamentary constituency consisting of nine assembly segments of Udham Singh Nagar has always been a strong hold of Congress party. But surprisingly, the results of the 2012 Assembly elections badly upset calculations of many poll pundits as the BJP for the first time managed to register an emphatic victory winning seven out of nine Assembly constituencies of Udham Singh Nagar in 2012 State Assembly polls; though later it lost one seat of Sitarganj Assembly constituency to Chief Minister in the by-polls of 2012.
Therefore, it will be interesting to see if Baba manages to regain his hold in Terai politics that proved to be crucial in his electoral victory lok Sabha elections in 2009 also or BJP’s Koshiyari succeeds to break the Congress monopoly in this seat.