Wednesday, 20 April | PNS | Dehradun
The suspense over the constituency from where the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami would contest the by-election from may be cleared within a couple of days. Dhami disclosed this himself on Tuesday when asked by the media persons on his possible plan to contest from Champawat assembly constituency. He said that many MLAs have expressed their willingness to offer their seats to him and everything has been brought before the party high command. He disclosed that things will be finalised within the next two or three days.
In the political circles it is being speculated that the CM has made up his mind to contest from Champawat to make an entry in the fifth elected assembly of the state. This gained credence on Sunday when the BJP MLA from Champawat Kailash Gehtodi cancelled all his programmes and left for Dehradun. At the start of this month, Dhami himself was in Champawat for two full days. During this visit Dhami gave enough hints that he had made up his mind to contest from Champawat.
It is worth mentioning here that Gehtodi was the first MLA who had offered to vacate his seat for Dhami. Apart from Gehtodi many other MLAs have also offered their seats to Dhami. It was expected earlier that Dhami would contest from Didihat in Pithoragarh district because he is the native of the area but the rebellious overtones of sitting MLA and former cabinet minister Bishan Singh Chufal forced him to scout for another safe constituency in Kumaon. The CM’s camp is said to be favouring Champawat for its local factors, demography and caste factors which are said to be favourable for Dhami. This constituency is not very big and more than half of the electors are concentrated in Tanakpur- Banbasa area which makes Dhami to cover it extensively in a short time. Champawat also has a good population of people belonging to Pithoragarh district which is Dhami’s native place. Apart from these factors the area has a considerable population of ex servicemen who are considered as a vote bank of BJP. In the recently held assembly elections, CM Dhami was defeated by the Congress candidate Bhuwan Kapri. Now having been made the CM of the state by the central leadership of BJP for the second consecutive time, Dhami needs to get elected to the state assembly within six months. After the consent of party high command, MLA Gehtodi would resign paving the way for by-election for entry of CM Dhami in the state assembly.
