Saturday, 07 May | PNS | Dehradun
With opposition Congress declaring Nirmala Gehtodi as its candidate the stage is all set for the Champawat assembly by elections the voting for which would be held on May 31. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already declared chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami as its candidate for the Champawat by- elections.
Interestingly this would be the first election in which Hemesh Kharkwal would not be the Congress party’s candidate in Champawat. In all the five assembly elections held so far after creation of Uttarakhand, Kharkwal was the Congress candidate in Champawat. This time also the Congress party wanted Kharkwal to contest the elections but he showed no interest after which the party gave the ticket to Nirmala Gehtodi.
CM Dhami who needed to get elected to the fifth assembly of the state would file his nomination papers for the by elections on May 9.
In view of its importance the ruling BJP and CM Dhami are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a big victory for Dhami in the by poll. Since Dhami’s political future is linked with this by election he has remained very cautious and has already toured the area extensively. Prior to the notification by the election commission (EC) for the by -election, the CM has already announced many projects and schemes worth crores of rupees for the area.
Champawat assembly constituency has a total of 96,016 voters out of which 50,057 are male and 45,959 are female voters. There are 151 polling booths in the constituency. In the assembly elections of 2017 and 2022 Kailash Gehtodi of BJP has won from the seat. In 2002 and 2012 Himesh Kharkwal of Congress had represented the constituency in the state assembly while in the year 2007, Meena Mahrana of BJP had won from here.
In the recently held assembly elections, CM Dhami was defeated by Bhuwan Kapdi of Congress from his traditional Khatima assembly constituency by a margin of 6,759 votes. Though CM Dhami lost the election the ruling BJP came back to power in Uttarakhand under his leadership by winning 47 out of 70 seats in the state assembly and the central leadership of BJP appointed Dhami as CM of the state for the second consecutive time. However Dhami has to fulfil the constitutional obligation of getting elected to the state assembly within six months of assuming office. To pave the way for entry of CM Dhami into the assembly, BJP MLA Kailash Gehtodi resigned from his assembly membership.
Schedule of Champawat by elections-
1 Last date of filing of nomination papers- May 11
2 Last date for withdrawal of nomination papers- May 17
3 Polling for the by election- May 31
4 Counting and declaration of result- June 3
