Dehradun: The political fate of several BJP heavyweights, including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and state unit president Madan Kaushik will be decided in the Uttarakhand Assembly polls on Monday.
Luck of other ministers in the Dhami cabinet will also be decided on Monday. Polling will be held on 70 seats of the Uttarakhand Assembly in a single phase on February 14.
Chief Minister Dhami is trying his fortune for another and this time from Khatima. Four time MLA and state BJP president Kaushik is contesting from Haridwar.
Minister Dhan Singh Rawat is contesting from Srinagar against state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal.
In Haridwar (rural) Assembly seats senior BJP leader and minister in the Dhami government Yatishwarananda is trying his luck for another term against Congress candidate Anupama Rawat, daughter of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Uttarakhand Minister Subodh Uniyal and Ganesh Joshi are contesting from Narendra Nagar and Mussoorie Assembly seats respectively.
Speaker Premchand Aggarwal is contesting from Rishikesh Assembly constituency.
Other prominent names are ministers Satpal Maharaj from Chaubattakhal, Bansidhar Bhagat from Kaladhungi, Pradeep Batra from Roorkee, and Bishan Singh Chufal from Didihat.
Former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay is trying his luck from Tehri Assembly seat on a BJP ticket.
The high-pitched campaign witnessed political parties ending with Chief Minister Dhami promising implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Uttarakhand after winning Assembly polls.
The Uttarakhand BJP claims that the Congress is trying to polarise the election by talking about Muslim University. BJP Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand Naresh Bansal had said that Congress is treating the Muslim community as ‘vote bank’ and by promising a university they are trying to appease the minority community.
Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Akil Ahmad claimed former Chief Minister Harish Rawat assured that a Muslim university would be set up in Uttarakhand. The Congress party and former Rawat have denied Ahmad’s claims, the BJP has said that the opposition party is trying to ‘polarise Muslim voters’ in certain Assembly segments by promising to set up a Muslim University in the state for community.
In 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP won 57 seats out of 70. The BJP is trying to reverse the trend that the government changes every five years in Uttarakhand by winning two successive polls.
(IANS)