Late Shaila Rani & Asha Nautiyal have registered victories from the constituency on two occasions each
Sunday, 03 November 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Women candidates have won in four out of five assembly elections held in Kedarnath Assembly constituency after the creation of Uttarakhand in the year 2000. Late Shaila Rani Rawat and Asha Nautiyal have the honour of representing the constituency in the State Assembly on two times while Manoj Rawat has registered victory once.
In the first Assembly election of the State held in the year 2002, Asha Nautiyal was given ticket by the BJP against Shaila Rani Rawat of Congress. In this election Nautiyal defeated Shaila Rani Rawat by a margin of 3,465 votes. Nautiyal cornered 13080 votes while Rawat got 9,615 votes.
In the Assembly elections of 2007, BJP reposed its faith in Nautiyal while Congress fielded veteran Kunwar Singh Negi from the constituency. Nautiyal registered her second consecutive victory from the constituency in the election as she defeated Negi by a margin of 2,979 votes. The winning streak of Nautiyal got broken in the Assembly elections of 2012 when Shaila Rani Rawat registered victory on Congress ticket. She received 19,960 votes while Nautiyal received 17,632 votes. In this election Ganga Dhar Nautiyal of CPI (M) received 2395 votes.
Shaila Rani Rawat was one of the 11 MLAs of the Congress party who crossed sides in the revolt in the floor of the assembly against the then chief minister Harish Rawat. As promised by the top leadership of BJP, Shaila Rani Rawat was given the ticket by BJP in the Assembly elections of 2017. As expected, Asha Nautiyal revolted and contested the election as an independent candidate. The Congress on the other hand gave its ticket to Journalist turned politician Manoj Rawat. In the four cornered contest Manoj Rawat defeated Kuldeep Rawat (Independent) by a margin of 869 votes. Nautiyal finished third while BJP candidate Shaila Rani Rawat was relegated to fourth spot. In this election Manoj Rawat received 13,906 votes; Kuldeep Rawat got 13,037, Nautiyal 11,786 and Shaila Rani Rawat 11,780 votes.
Ahead of the Assembly elections of 2022, Nautiyal returned to the BJP’s fold in the hope of party ticket. However the party again fielded Shaila Rani Rawat from the constituency. The Congress party fielded Manoj Rawat while Kuldeeep Rawat again contested as an independent. Shaila Rani won from the constituency by a margin of 7,544. Manoj Rawat received 12,557 votes to finish third.
The death of Shaila Rani Rawat on July 9 this year necessitated the by-election in Kedarnath. Contrary to the expectations that ruling BJP will field either Aishwarya Rawat, the daughter of late Shaila Rani Rawat or Kuldeep Rawat who had finished second in the elections of 2017 and 2022 and had joined BJP after the Assembly elections of 2022. However taking lessons from the defeat in the neighbouring Badrinath bypoll the BJP fielded the head of its Mahila Morcha Asha Nautiyal from the constituency in the hope of pleasing its core vote bank and party cadre.
Interestingly the BJP leadership has also ensured that Aishwarya and Kuldeep do not turn rebel and mar the chances of the official candidate of the party. The Congress party has again fielded Manoj Rawat. The stage is now all set for a direct contest between Congress and BJP in the important by-election.
