A keen triangular contest is on cards in Narendranagar Assembly constituency in Tehri Garhwal district. BJP has fielded former Congress leader and sitting MlA Subodh Uniyal as its candidate from the seat while Congress has given its party ticket to young Himanshu Bijalwan. Om Gopal Rawat, the former MlA resigned from BJP when the party gave the ticket to Uniyal, one among the nine Congress MlAs who rebelled against the leadership of Harish Rawat last year. Om Gopal Rawat is in the fray as an independent candidate and has made the contest triangular.
Interestingly, it would be the third consecutive face-off between Om Gopal and Subodh Uniyal in the Assembly elections in Narendranagar. These two leaders have contested against each other in the elections in 2007 and 2012 and both have won the elections once.
Narendranagar is known for ‘Ananda’, a palace turned spa resort, but the people of the area still face difficulty for drinking water, better education and health facilities.
In the first Assembly elections in 2002 after creation of a new State, Subodh Uniyal defeated lakhi Ram of BJP. In the next Assembly elections in 2007, Om Gopal Rawat on the ticket of UKD defeated Uniyal by a wafer thin margin of four votes. Uniyal got more votes than Rawat but lost the election as he (Uniyal) got less postal ballots. Om Gopal left UKD and joined BJP and fought the elections in 2012 on its symbol. In this election, Uniyal avenged his defeat and won the seat by a margin of 401 votes.
This time the Congress has played its cards cleverly and fielded a Brahmin, Himanshu Bijalwan. The political analysts feel that Bijalwan would share the crucial Brahmin votes which could prove dangerous for Uniyal who also belongs to the same caste. Some feel that Om Gopal, a Rajput could get the benefit of the spilt in votes of Brahmins. Om Gopal is also said to be popular among youth. The tag of defector could also prove costly to Uniyal, but he is confident that the development works ushered by him and Modi magic would sail him through. Bijalwan is promising to provide jobs to the youth.