Uttarakhand: 'Assembly elections will be between BJP government's development and Congress's misdeeds', said CM Pushkar Singh Dhami

The upcoming Uttarakhand Assembly elections are based on the contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's development works and the misdeeds of previous Congress rule in the state, said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday.

Briefing media persons, the chief minister said, "This election is between our 'kaam' and their (Congress) 'karnama'. Everyone has seen what they did when they were in power before 2017. In this election, we will publicize the development works done by our government under the leadership of Modi Ji." On Election Commission's restrictions regarding COVID-19, Dhami said, "We will follow all the guidelines issued by the Election Commission. We are fully prepared and fully confident of winning this election." Uttarakhand will go to the Assembly polls in a single phase on February 14.

On Saturday, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra announced the poll schedule for five states including Uttarakhand. The counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand will be held on March 10.

In the wake of the COVID-19 surge, the Commission directed that no physical political rallies and roadshows will be allowed till January 15, however, further rallies and election campaign meetings will be allowed only in earmarked places and with prior permissions of district administration.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Government has prohibited all political rallies and protests in the state until January 16 in view of the rising COVID-19 cases.