In lansdowne Assembly constituency sitting MlA and BJP leader Dalip Singh Rawat and lieutenant General TPS Rawat (retd) are engaged in an interesting electoral battle.
The outcome of this battle is important for both these leaders as a defeat could send the doughty General into political retirement and an electoral reverse could put question mark over the political future of Dalip Rawat who also is the Mahant of famous Siddhbali temple located in Kotdwar. Before announcement of candidates the political circles were abuzz that Harak Singh Rawat is interested to contest from lansdowne this time. However on intense opposition from Dalip Rawat, Harak was given BJP ticket from neighboring Kotdwar.
Comprising more than 125 villages lansdowne constituency draws its name from beautiful cantonment town of lansdowne located in Garhwal hills. The constituency is one of a Rajput dominated constituency with large population of ex-servicemen and this time too the contestants from both Congress and BJP belong to this caste. Harak Singh Rawat won from this constituency in the elections of 2002 and 2007. He defeated Bharat Singh Rawat (father of Dalip Singh Rawat) on both these occasions and sent him (Bharat Singh) who was one of a heavyweight politician of the area, into political retirement. In the elections of 2002, Harak Singh, a newcomer to the area sprang up a surprise when he defeated Bharat Singh by a thin margin. In the elections of 2007 too both these leaders were once again in the electoral fray from the area. In these elections Harak Singh (Congress) trounced Bharat Singh by a margin of 3818 votes. However In the elections of 2012 Harak Singh shifted to Rudraprayag constituency forcing the Congress to put its bet on Jyoti Rautela. lt General T P S Rawat (retd) was the candidate from Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) in this election. The popularity which the soft spoken retired army general enjoys with the voters of the area could be judged from the fact that he secured more votes than the Congress candidate. In this election BJP gave ticket to son of Bharat Singh, Dalip Singh Rawat who secured 15324 votes, lt Gen Rawat got 9886 votes while the Congress candidate was third with 8849 votes.
“This time the contest would be a closed one as lt Gen Rawat enjoys a good reputation and this time since he is official Congress candidate he would surly secure more votes than last year,’’ said one of a political observer. Dalip Rawat on the other hand is banking on the work undertaken by him in last five years to garner votes.