Polling on April 19 for all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand
By staff reporter
The electioneering in Uttarakhand where the polling will be held in the first phase on April 19 will end tomorrow evening as both the ruling BJP and Congress candidates accelerated their campaigns to drum up support in their favours.
Home Minister Amit Shah held a rally at Kotdwar where he asked the people to vote for the ruling BJP and highlighted the achievements of the government in the country and also in Uttarakhand.
The electioneering in Uttarakhand for the five Lok Sabha seats has gained momentum in the past one week only. Otherwise the election shrill was missing this time.
However, the election remained mainly confined to the mainstream media and social media platforms.
In most of the five seats in the hill state, the contest is straight between the ruling BJP and Congress. In all the constituencies, the candidates mostly relied on rallies and road shows.
The poll graffiti, posters, stickers and banners that give the elections a festive look were seen in fewer areas in the elections mainly due to strict election guidelines.
Most of the leaders of BJP and Congress remained busy in attacking each other on different issues ranging from Ram Temple, Article 370, Agniveer, Silkayara tunnel, Joshimath subsidence and Ankita Bhandari murder case.
As per the Election Commission (EC) guidelines, political parties and candidates were asked to use easily removable stickers, flags and banners on private properties for poll campaigns with the consent of the owner of such properties, top officials said.
The main battle appeared to be in the Pauri-Garhwal constituency where BJP spokesman Anil Baluni is pitted against former Congress state chief Ganesh Godiyal. Both the parties are claiming victories in Pauri.
In Haridwar, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat left no stone unturned to garner support for his son Birendra, who is making his election debut in this seat having sizeable Muslim population. Birendra is facing a stiff challenge from former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat (BJP).
In the rest of the three seats, Tehri, Nainital and Almora – the BJP candidates Mala Rajlakshmi Shah, Ajay Bhatt and Ajay Tamta is having an edge over the rivals.
BJP has celebrated a white wash of 5-0 victory twice since 2014 against Congress. In 2009, Congress had swept the polls with 5-0 victory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two crucial election rallies in Rishikesh and Rudrapur. BJP President J P Nadda also held a couple of election rallies in the state.
On the other hand, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also campainged for the party in two election rallies on April 13 in Pauri and Haridwar constituencies. Rahul Gandhi remained absent in the state this time.