PrashantNews
The battle lines were drawn in Kedarnath assembly seat in Uttarakhand with BJP fielding Asha Nautiyal against Manoj Rawat of Congress in the Nov 20 bypoll.
The candidatures of both the former MLAs was finalized on Sunday, top officials of the two parties said.
Ignoring the name of former cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, the Congress on Sunday approved the candidature of former MLA Manoj Rawat from Kedarnath seat for the ensuing byelection. Hours later, BJP ignored the name of Aishwarya to field Nautiyal from Kedarnath against Manoj Rawat. Aishwarya, who is daughter of late Kedarnath MLA Shaila Rani Rawat, tried hard to get BJP ticket.
Interestingly, Harak Singh Rawat has openly stated that he never lost any election in the hill state implying that he was the right choice from Kedarnath. Rawat had won Kedarnath seat in 2012.On the other hand, state Congress President Karan Mahra was also not favouring Manoj Rawat. But the party high command on the recommendation of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat approved the candidature of Manoj Rawat.
The scintillating victories in Badrinath and Mangalaur few months ago gave the Congress a new hope that it can now win Kedarnath seat also. The Kedarnath seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat on July 9.
BJP initially wanted to bet on Aishwarya. However, former party MLA Asha Nautiyal vehemently started opposing Aishwarya. Later, the party high command decided to field Nautiyal from Kedarnath as Aishwarya was openly demanding ticket for herself claiming she has been assured by the high command.
Senior BJP leader Dushyant Guatam, who is incharge of the party affairs in the state, made it clear that there were no differences in the party over the Kedarnath issue.
The Election Commission has already announced that the Kedarnath assembly bypoll will be held on Nov 20 and the counting of votes will begin on Nov 23. The last date of filing of nomination papers will be Oct 29. The scrutiny will be held next day. The withdrawal of nominations can be done till Nov 4.
After its ignominious white wash in the Lok Sabha elections for the third time consecutively, the Congress showed signs of recovery when it won both Badrinath and Manglaur seats in the bypolls in July. Congress is exuding confidence that it would win the Kedarnath byelection also this time. “We will win Kedarnath seat,” said state Congress chief Karan Mahra.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a number of new schemes that would benefit the Kedarnath people. He has also warned his opponents that his government would not tolerate love jihad, spit (thuk) jihad and land jihad in the state. The people of Kedarnath will prefer development and give BJP a strong mandate in the byelection, Dhami said.