Harish Rawat faces defeat on both seats in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: In a major shock for the Congress, chief minister Harish Rawat faced defeat on the two assembly seats – Kichha and Haridwar Rural – from where he was contesting as a party candidate. While BJP’s Swami Yatishwaranad defeated Rawat by a margin of over 12,000 votes at Haridwar Rural, BJP candidate Rajesh Shukla defeated Rawat by 92 votes at Kichha seat of Udham Singh Nagar district.

In the 2017 assembly elections, Rawat decided to contest from two seats of Kichha and Haridwar Rural in Haridwar district. The move was being seen as an attempt to strengthen the Congress base in the two key districts, which have 20 seats out of the total of 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand.

For preparation, Rawat’s Anupama had been camping in Haridwar Rural assembly constituency for the last two years. Following which, Rawat’s win was being regarded as almost certain from the seat. However, the defeat by a margin of over 12,000 votes is being termed as a major shock for the Congress.

Political experts were of the view that Rawat would definitely win from Kichha but he suffered humiliation by a mere 92 votes in a hard fought contest.

Interestingly, in 2012, the then CM B C Khanduri too was defeated by Congress nominee Surendra Singh Negi at the Kotdwar seat.