A nail- biting contest is awaiting Tehri Assembly constituency where the tourism minister Dinesh Dhanai - a member of the PDF that supported the Congress-led government - contesting as an independent candidate, is locked in three-cornered battle with the BJP’s Dhan Singh Negi and Congress’s Narendra Chandra Ramola in the fray. The constituency is having 79964 voters this time, it proved a sort of cliffhanger in the previous faceoff with the present state Congress president Kishore Upadyaya biting the poll dust being humbled in the hands of the independent Dhanai by less than 400 votes. It is not for nothing that Upadyaya fled to Sahaspur seat in Dehradun this time despite a section of the party rank and file demanding him to try his electoral luck again from the seat.
In the first Assembly election in the state in 2002, Kishore Upadhayay contesting as a Congress candidate won by a margin of around 3928 votes when he defeated BJP’s candidate Ratan Singh Gunsola.
Upadhaya remained on the winning streak in the next faceoff in 2007, defeating Khem Singh Chauhan of BJP by an impressive margin of 3198 votes.
The wheels of fortunes turned during 2012 election when
Dinesh Dhanai battling as an independent candidate beat Upadhyay by 377 votes.
Many believe that Congress has fielded a relatively weak candidate for the high-stake seat to spare Dhanai a real triangular contest and help him comfortably sail through. Mention worthy, the party fielded its candidate for the constituency presumably under pressure from Upadhaya as Dhanai chose to contest as an independent. While Upadhaya insisted that all the PDF members must contest as Congress candidates chief minister Harish Rawat, on the other hand, stressed on his party fielding no candidate in case the PDF members chose to fight as independents. Congress candidate Ramola, a member of Kshetra Panchayat in Tehri, said, “The big leader was shifted from here as it would have proved difficult for him to campaign in the hilly terrain,” he said, adding that the party was, however, serious to wrest the seat with Dhanai having failed the electorate. BJP’s candidate Dhan Singh Negi too seems to be no match for the tall stature Dhanai enjoys. In fact, going by BJP sources, the party has never been able to win Tehri seat after the formation of the state mainly because of the factor of factional differences.