Tuesday, 12 March 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
About ten days after the BJP brass unveiled the candidate list for three out of the five constituencies in Uttarakhand, the Congress has made public names of three of its candidates.
On the expected lines, the former State Congress president Ganesh Godiyal has been fielded for the prestigious Pauri Garhwal constituency. A few days ago, son of the BJP veteran Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri Manish Khanduri, who had been nominated by the Congress for the Pauri seat in 2019 election, quit the Congress followed by his switch to the saffron fold. The BJP is still sitting on the name of the candidate from this constituency, fuelling speculation that Khanduri Jr may be fielded. Again on expected lines, the grand old party has fielded Pradip Tamta for the Almora (reserved) seat and he is to take on the BJP nominee Ajay Tamta. The Congress has chosen Jot Singh Gunsola for the Tehri constituency and he will fight the poll battle against the BJP nominee Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah. Interestingly, the Congress’s screening committee had shortlisted the leader of the opposition and Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh for this seat. So the name of Gunsola came as a surprise, Congress insiders said and added that Pritam like other big leaders of the State Congress had expressed unwillingness to get into the hustings this time.
