Friday, 11 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
There were many seats in the assembly elections of 2017 which had become high profile due to the prominent personalities which had contested from there.
The presence of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and working president of Congress party Bhuwan Kapri had made Khatima the most prestigious constituency of these elections. Here Dhami lost the seat and probably the chair of the CM as Kapri defeated him by a margin of 6,759 votes. In another high profile seat, Lalkuan, the former CM Harish Rawat suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Mohan Singh Bisht of BJP. The Srinagar assembly constituency which is considered as the heart of Garhwal region had become important due to the presence of president of Uttarakhand Congress Ganesh Godiyal and cabinet minister Dhan Singh Rawat. In a closely contested election which witnessed many ups and downs, Rawat defeated Godiyal by a wafer thin margin of 587 votes. While the president of state Congress lost the election the president of Uttarakhand BJP Madan Kaushik won from his stronghold of Haridwar. He defeated Satpal Brahmachari of Congress by a margin of 15,237 votes to get entry into the Vidhan Sabha for a record fifth time. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly Pritam Singh won from his family bastion of the Chakrata assembly constituency for the sixth consecutive time. He defeated his Congress rival Ramsharan Nautiyal who is father of singer Jubin Nautiyal. In Bajpur the senior leader Yashpal Arya defeated his BJP rival Rajesh Kumar by a margin of 1,611 votes. Lansdowne constituency of Pauri district had become high profile after former actress and daughter in law of Harak Singh Rawat, Anukriti Gusain was nominated as Congress party candidate from there. Harak was removed from the Dhami cabinet and BJP after his overtures with the Congress party. However the mighty Harak failed to get his daughter in-law elected to assembly as she was defeated by sitting MLA Dilip Singh Rawat of BJP by a margin of 9,868 votes. In Tehri from where the BJP had nominated former president of Uttarakhand Congress Kishore Upadhyaya, replacing sitting MLA Dhan Singh Negi, defeated nearest rival Dinesh Dhanai of UJP by a margin of 951 votes. In Gadarpur the cabinet minister Arvind Pandey overcame a spirited challenge from Premanand Mahajan of Congress and defeated him by a margin of 1,120 votes. With this victory Pandey also broke the myth that the education ministers invariably lose the assembly elections. Cabinet minister Subodh Uniyal thwarted a challenge from Om Gopal Rawat of Congress in Narendranagar assembly constituency. He defeated Rawat by a margin of 1798 votes. Another senior cabinet minister and BJP stalwart Satpal Maharaj defeated his Congress rival Keshar Singh Negi by 11,430 votes in his stronghold of Chaubattakhal assembly constituency.
