PNS | DEHRADUN
After the debacle in the Kedarnath Assembly by-election the Uttarakhand Congress is now faced with the arduous task of devising a strategy to stop the victory march of ruling BJP in the upcoming elections of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
After the twin victories in the Assembly by-elections of Manglaur and Badrinath, the Uttarakhand Congress was hoping to score a hat trick by winning recently held bypoll in Kedarnath. In order to effectively manage the process of candidate selection and campaign the central leadership of Congress constituted a coordination committee of the senior leaders of the party for the Kedarnath bypoll. In the Kedarnath Assembly by-election, the Congress leaders targeted chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and associated the bypoll with the local aspirations and pride.
Accusing the CM of trying to undermine the Char Dham Yatra, Congress leaders even termed the bypoll as a contest between Dham and Dhami. The CM also took the challenge head on and attacked the Congress leaders for launching a misinformation campaign. In the by-election the BJP candidate Asha Nautiyal secured a comfortable victory over her Congress party rival Manoj Rawat. After the defeat in Kedarnath, the Congress leadership is now faced with the task of stopping the forward march of the ruling BJP in the ULB elections. The State government has given an undertaking to the Uttarakhand High Court that it will complete the process of election in the ULBs of the State before December 25.
In the elections held in 2018, the Congress emerged victorious in only two out of 11 municipal corporations in the State. Its candidates became chairpersons in 18 out of 45 municipalities and 22 out of 45 Nagar Panchayats. The grand old party is now planning to contest the ULB elections with its full might. The political observers are of the view that if the Congress party manages to put a good show in the ULB elections then it will enthuse its cadre for the crucial Assembly elections scheduled in the year 2027.
The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that the Congress party is not demoralised by the loss in Kedarnath. He said that the party is ready for the ULB elections and will expose the BJP government before the people.
A string of defeats in Uttarakhand has demoralised the Congress party workers. The BJP is on a winning streak in the State ever since it bagged all the five parliamentary seats in 2014. It then came to power in the State in the assembly elections of 2017 and its candidates again secured landslide victories in the parliamentary elections of 2019. Negating the anti incumbency and the trend the BJP retained its power in the State in the assembly elections of 2022. The BJP again won all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state in the general elections of 2024.
