All preparations are complete for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Uttarakhand on Monday, including Dharchula from where Chief Minister Harish Rawat is seeking his entry into the state Assembly.
It is a constitutional formality for Rawat who was an MP at the time of being sworn in as Chief Minister on February 1 this year to become a member of the state Assembly within six months of assuming charge.
Uttarakhand's Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi said all preparations for the bypoll are complete with adequate deployment of security personnel at the polling booths which fall in Dehradun, Almora and Pithoragarh districts. The highest number of sensitive booths are in Dharchula segment where the Chief Minister is pitted against BJP's BD Joshi. There are six sensitive booths in Dharchula, followed by four in Someshwar and two in Doiwala. However, Raturi said Uttarakhand has a history of holding peaceful elections.
Considered a Congress bastion, Dharchula seat was vacated by Congress MLA Harish Dhami last month to pave the way for Rawat to contest it. Bypolls to the Doiwala and Someshwar (reserved) seats were necessitated after sitting MLAs from there former chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and Ajay Tamta of the BJP respectively were elected as MPs from Haridwar and Almora constituencies.
Senior Congress leader Hira Singh Bisht is battling with BJP's Trivendra Singh Rawat in Doiwala while Rekha Arya of the Congress is slugging it out with Mohan Lal Arya of the BJP at Someshwar.
A day ahead of the bypolls, Chief Minister Harish Rawat said he was confident of his party's victory in all the three seats. When asked how he could be so optimistic about performance of his party which lost all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state recently, Chief Minister Rawat said these elections are being fought on different issues. "It is being contested on local issues which includes the state government's performance over the past few months. The people have seen us perform and I am confident that they will ensure our victory from all the seats to strengthen us and give stability to the government to help it accomplish its unfinished goal of the state's all-round development," he said. "Moreover, unchecked price rise has exposed the BJP government at the Centre," he added.
Meanwhile, BJP also said it will repeat its Lok Sabha poll performance by sweeping all the three seats. "The corrupt Congress government in the state will be taught a lesson and BJP will come out with flying colours on all the seats," the party said.
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