Exit polls on Monday predicted a very close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Uttarakhand. The exit polls showed the saffron party to be close to the majority mark of 36 in the 70-member Assembly, however, the surveys also projected that the grand old party was not far behind.
According to Times Now-Veto, the ruling BJP is expected to cross the majority mark by winning 37 seats. The Congress party is likely to win about 31 seats, while it Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is projected to win only one seat in the state.
Meanwhile, here is the list of candidates and constituencies to watch out for in the poll-bound state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP):
In the list released by BJP for the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly polls, ruling BJP Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his 11 cabinet colleagues and the BJP Uttarakhand president Madan Kaushik have been given tickets to contest from their constituencies.
The hill state is a very important region for the ruling party as it has won several times in the past.
Some of the prominent leaders of and BJP having a stronghold in important constituencies include chief minister Dhami from Khatima constituency, party state president Madan Kaushik from Haridwar, cabinet ministers Dhan Singh Rawat from Srinagar, Subodh Uniyal from Narendra Nagar, Ganesh Joshi from Mussoorie, Swami Yatishwaranand from Haridwar (rural). Banshidhar Bhagat from Kaladhungi and Arvind Pandey from Gadarpur.
The other prominent names included in the list are sitting MLA Umesh Sharma Kau from the Raipur constituency and Speaker Premchand Aggarwal from the Rishikesh constituency.
From Rudrapur, the party has fielded Shiv Arora, replacing two-time MLA Rajkumar Thukral.
The party has fielded former Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay, who joined the BJP just two days, from the Tehri seat and Brijmohan Gairola from the Doiwala constituency.
Congress Party:
Congress party released the list of the candidates in which the party had fielded Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal from the Srinagar seat and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Pritam Singh from the Chakrata (ST) constituency.
Former chief minister Harish Rawat will contest next month’s assembly election from Lalkuan constituency in Nanital district instead of Ramnagar,
Meanwhile, Harish Rawat's daughter and All India Mahila Congress general secretary Anupama Rawat have been fielded from the Haridwar Rural constituency.
Congress fielded sitting MLA Dhan Singh Negi from Tehri for the Uttarakhand assembly polls, hours after he quit the BJP to join the grand old party.
Senior Uttarakhand politician and former minister in the BJP government, Harak Singh Rawat has failed to secure a ticket for elections this time. Rawat had returned to Congress earlier this month after he was expelled from the BJP and was stripped of his ministerial berth.
Yashpal Arya, a former Speaker in the state assembly, who had recently joined the Congress after quitting the BJP, has been fielded from his Bajpur-SC constituency.
Arya's son Sanjeev Arya has also been fielded from the Nainital (SC) assembly seat, which he quit after resigning from the BJP along with his father.
Sumit Hridayesh, the son of senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh who died in June last year, has been fielded from the Haldwani assembly seat.
Moreover, Om Gopal Rawat will contest from Narendranagar, Gaurav Chaudhary from Doiwala in place of Mohit Uniyal, Ravi Bahadur from Jwalapur (SC seat) instead of Barkha Rani, Yashpal Rana from Roorkee, Kesar Singh Negi from Chaubattakhal, Ranjit Rawat from Salt constituency in Almora district.
AAm Aadmi Party (AAP):
In the announcement made by Delhi chief minister and AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal, the party fielded Colonel Ajay Kothiyal (retired) as AAP's chief minister candidate for the forthcoming assembly elections who will contest from Gangotri assembly constituency.
AAP has fielded Manoj Shah from the Yamunotri constituency, while Manju Tiwari has been chosen to contest from the Kaladhungi constituency. Meanwhile, Nand Lal has been fielded from the Rudrapur constituency by the party.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party has included 15 leaders in the list of star campaigners, which includes Col Ajay Kothiyal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh, Satyendra Jain, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Imran Hasan, Dinesh Mohania, as well as Delhi Cabinet Ministers and several MLAs from Delhi.
Star campaigners, including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, will campaign for Aam Aadmi Party candidates in 70 assembly constituencies. AAP has already declared Col. Ajay Kothiyal as its Chief Ministerial face.
The party has chosen Taradutt Pandey to contest from the Jageshwar assembly seat. Other candidates who have been chosen to contest the elections include Sagar Pandey, Bhuvan Arya, Jarnail Singh Kali and Kulwant Singh who have been fielded from Bhimtal, Nainital (SC), Gadarpur and Kichha assembly seats respectively.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP):
The Mayawati-led party, which has announced to contest on all 70 seats of the state, has given tickets to Brahmin, Bania, Thakur, Muslim, OBC, SC and ST candidates. However, the party has not given a ticket to any woman candidate so far.
While the party doesn't wield strong influence in other districts, it has a loyal voter base in Haridwar due to a significant Dalit and Muslim population.
BSP has announced the names of candidates for eight out of 11 constituencies in the Haridwar district. The party's Uttarakhand president, Shish Pal Singh, will also contest from the Jwalapur constituency of the district.
The largely bipolar politics of the state involving the two national parties, which have been alternately in power, had got a new twist this time with Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in the fray, offering itself as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP. However, according to the exit polls, the AAP has failed to make a mark despite a major hype.
