Godiyal & Baluni made electoral debut in 2002 on different notes
Saturday, 30 March 2024 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
In the election for the Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency a keen contest is on the cards between BJP’s Anil Baluni and Congress candidate Ganesh Godiyal. It is interesting to note that both Baluni and Godiyal who are fighting it out for the prestigious Garhwal LS seat made their electoral debut in the Assembly election of 2002 from two different Assembly constituencies of Garhwal on different notes. In the election Godiyal proved to be a giant killer by defeating Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank from Thalisain Assembly constituency while the nomination papers of Baluni who had contested from the Kotdwar Assembly constituency, were rejected.
Baluni who had done his graduation (BCom) from Delhi University was active in student politics and was close to RSS and BJP leaders, one of whom was Sunder Singh Bhandari. When Bhandari became governor of Gujarat, he appointed Baluni as his OSD. In the first Assembly election of Uttarakhand held in the year 2002, a young Baluni was given BJP’s ticket from Kotdwar Assembly constituency. His candidature however received a setback when his nomination papers were rejected by the returning officer on technical grounds. In this election, Surendra Singh Negi of Congress party secured victory. Baluni contested the decision and in 2004 the Supreme Court gave its verdict in his favour and ordered re-election in Kotdwar. In this election, Surendra Singh Negi defeated Baluni by a margin of about 8,000 votes. After this defeat Baluni made a distance from electoral politics and moved forward in the BJP organisation. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2018 and now the BJP has fielded him from Garhwal.
Godiyal also started his career in politics in the year 2002 when Congress party fielded him against heavyweight politician Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank from Thalisain Assembly constituency of Garhwal. Nishank was on a winning streak from the constituency having won four elections in a row. In the election, Godiyal, then a political greenhorn, stunned everyone by defeating Nishank. In the Assembly elections of 2007 Nishank and Godiyal again faced each other with Nishank emerging victorious in a close contest. Political observers point out that the growing stature of Godiyal forced Nishank to migrate to Doiwala constituency in Haridwar in the elections of 2012. In the year 2012 Godiyal successfully contested from Srinagar Assembly constituency while in the Assembly elections of 2017 and 2022, he lost to Dhan Singh Rawat of the BJP.
