Rawat sports ‘kala tika’ to ward off evil eye, hosts night-long prayers

DEHRADUN:

Uttarakhand

CM Harish Rawat, who arrived at a polling booth at Majra in

Dharampur

constituency around 11.30 am to cast his vote, sported a a ‘black tika’ on his forehead, which he said was to ward off the evil eye. He spent over an hour interacting with the people present at the booth before casting his vote. The CM said that an hourlong pooja had been conducted at his residence during which he was advised to wear a kala tika.

“Usually I just put a saffron tika, but I was advised to sport a black tika as well to ensure good results in the election and to keep all evil away. I am very confident that our party will do well since the people of Uttarakhand will see right through the negative campaign which BJP has been running in the last one year. I am here to vote for the candidate who will work for the development of the state.” Earlier in the day, speculation was doing the rounds that the CM had conducted a nightlong pooja at his Bijapur residence for which three priests had been flown in from Delhi. The priests are said to specialise in conducting rituals that ensure success at the hustings and had been sent by a Delhibased senior Congress leader