BJP’s Vinod Kandari, Mantri Prasad Naithani of Congress and Diwakar Bhatt of UKD in the fray
Monday, 07 February 2022 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Devprayag
Named after the holy town of Devprayag, the place where the Ganga river is formed from the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers, the Devprayag Assembly constituency is spread on a vast mountainous terrain on both sides of Ganga in Tehri district of Uttarakhand. With only a week remaining for the polling day on February 14, the hustle and bustle associated with the elections is missing this time. The restrictions imposed by the election commission due to the pandemic of Covid-19 are visible in the township and nearby areas. The candidates are focussing on the meeting people and are covering the length and breadth of the constituency. An interaction with the locals reveals the usual issues of unemployment, migration from the villages and the increasing prices. The people seemed pleased with the promise of Congress party on jobs and providing cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500 though some expressed apprehensions about fulfillment of these promises. They also cite the free ration provided by the Narendra Modi government during the pandemic and the Kisan Samman Nidhi which came into the bank accounts of the farmers as some the factors which would influence the voters.
Pradip Negi who is looking for an elusive job after completing his graduation in the year 2018 said that the area lacks a good quality centre of higher education. “The students of the area have to go to Dehradun for doing courses in higher education,’’ he said.
Another local Suresh Rana said that the shifting of the NCC academy and the large scale unemployment during the pandemic is an issue in the election.
In the assembly elections of 2002 the seat was won by the Mantri Prasad Naithani on the ticket of Congress party. In the elections of 2007 however he was trounced by the leading figure of statehood movement Diwakar Bhatt who was called field marshall during the statehood movement. In that election Bhatt contesting on BJP ticket got 20,940 votes while the Congress candidate Naithani could get only 9,371. Naithani however was denied ticket by the Congress party which prompted him to contest as an independent. In this election he won the seat defeating rival Diwakar Bhatt of BJP by a margin of about 1,500 votes. He secured 12,294 votes while Bhatt got 10,753 votes. The Congress candidate Shurvir Singh Sajwan finished a poor fourth in the contest behind Mahipal Singh Butola. Naithani who was elected as an Independent supported the Congress in forming the government and was rewarded by the party with the ministerial berth. He was made the Congress candidate in the elections of the 2017 but in keeping with the tradition of education ministers losing the elections Naithani was relegated to third place in the contest. The seat was won by the young Vinod Kandari on the BJP ticket. He secured 13,824 votes while Diwakar Bhatt who contested on the ticket of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) was at second position with 10,325.
This time Congress has fielded Mantri Prasad Naithani while from BJP Vinod Kandari is in the fray. The president of UKD Diwakar Bhatt is also in the contest to make it triangular. Naithani told The Pioneer said that the BJP government shifted the NCC academy from Devprayag to Pauri. He said that the Congress had brought Devprayag under Kumbh area but during the recent Kumbh no work was done in Devprayag. Naithani said that the Congress government will work for providing employment and will a strong Land Law which will protect the interests of the local people. When contacted Kandari said that work on Tundeshwar bridge has started at Sangam which will boost the religious tourism in Devprayag. He cited construction of Tehsil building and approval for building of Hindolakhal polytechnic and drinking water scheme in Chauras as some of his achievements.
Fact File –
Polling stations – 145
Male voters – 43,673
Female voters – 42,229
Third gender – 4
