Once a BJP bastion, now a duel in Doiwala

DEHRADUN: The stage is set for a tight contest in the Doiwala assembly segment, where two former cabinet ministers—Hira Singh Bisht from the Congress and Trivendra Singh Rawat of the BJP -- will be taking on each other.

With over 1.41 lakh voters, Doiwala, which has until now been regarded as a "BJP bastion", is the only seat from two former cabinet ministers are trying their luck. The seat was represented by Rawat twice, between 2002-07 and 2007-12.

In the 2012 assembly polls, former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had contested from Doiwala and won it after his traditional seat, Thalisain in Pauri, was abolished in the 2008 delimitation.

However, Congress successfully made inroads into the BJP stronghold, with former transport minister Bisht defeating Rawat by over 6,000 votes in the 2014 bypolls, which was necessitated after Nishank vacated the seat following his successful Lok Sabha foray from

Haridwar

in the 2014 general elections.

Bisht is confident that the work done by him in the last couple of years will be "acknowledged" by the people of his constituency. “Since the formation of

Uttarakhand

, this constituency has been represented by the BJP for much of the time. I won it in 2014 and have initiated various development works,” he said, adding, “Because of our persistent efforts, Doiwala has been made a tehsil and an SDM court is now operational. We have constructed around 300 km of roads across Doiwala and have built one bridge even as three more are under construction.”

BJP spokesperson

Vinay Goyal

was dismissing of Bisht's claims. “Winning a by-election does not mean the Congress will come back here. The poll then had been held under the influence of the state government. The present MLA has a poor performance record and people will once again vote for BJP in Doiwala.”
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