Independents dominate, BJP and Congress candidates rejected by public in Chamoli
PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE | Jyotirmath
The public largely rejected candidates of national parties for posts in the district Panchayat in Chamoli district while prominent politicians too had to face defeat in the Panchayat elections here.
The Bharatiya Janata Party Chamoli district head Gajpal Barthwal, former cabinet minister Rajendra Bhandari’s wife and former district Panchayat chairwoman Rajni Bhandari and Nandan Singh Bisht were rejected by the voters in the district.
The public chose youths and educated women as their elected representatives. There are a total of 26 seats in the Chamoli district Panchayat. The Pokhri block was considered to be a hot seat as former district Panchayat chairwoman Rajni Bhandari, the wife of former cabinet minister Rajendra Singh Bhandari who had recently left the Congress to join the BJP, was also contesting from here.
However, she was rejected by the voters who elected independent candidate Lakshman Singh who defeated Bhandari by a margin of 479 votes. Similarly, BJP district president Gajpal Barthwal was also rejected by the voters. A total of 17 independent candidates won the election while a total of nine candidates of the BJP and Congress were elected.
Observers point out that though both the BJP and Congress claim to have performed better than the other, the people have actually opted for independent candidates without political affiliations, hoping that they will facilitate the desired development in the area.
