uttarakhand elections

In Someshwar seat, a husband and wife are pitted against each other in the electoral battle. Balwant Arya filed his nomination as a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate on Thursday and his wife Madhubala filed hers as an independent a day later on Friday.

Aya Ram, Gaya Ram, Phir Aya Ram... So quick has the entry and exit of turncoats been in Uttarakhand in the run-up to this year’s polls that sometimes even party members get confused. Sans ideology, the “revolving-door politics” in the hill state has become a phenomenon in itself this election season.

Even after winning 47 of the 70 assembly seats in the Uttarakhand election, BJP is set to review its poll performance, particularly in the 23 seats where the party lost.

All major political parties in Uttarakhand -- including BJP, Congress and AAP -- are facing a difficult time dealing with infighting and convincing their rebels, who are threatening to contest as independents after being denied a ticket.

12 tall Congress turncoats or their wards contested the assembly elections in the state as BJP candidates and barring two all of them reaped rich electoral harvests to power the party to a massive victory.

Congress has held the Haldwani assembly seat since 2007 but retaining the constituency won't be a cakewalk for the party this time. The party has fielded Sumit Hridayesh, son of senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh who died last year, from the seat. While analysts believe that Sumit will secure sympathy votes, they add that some supporters of Indira may vote for other candidates in the fray.

The BJP's first list of 59 candidates for the Uttarakhand assembly elections has included some prominent leaders who recently defected from the Congress.

Rawat lost from Kichcha at the hands of BJP's R Shukla, who won the seat by 2,154 votes. He also lost Haridwar (Rural) seat to BJP's Yatishwaranand by over 12,000 votes. Owning up, he said, "I accept that there must have been loopholes in my own leadership which led to the party's dismal show."

Uttarakhand Election Commission on Wednesday announced the schedule of panchyat polls to be held in 12 districts of the state.

A total of 15 counting centres have been set up across Uttarakhand and deployment of security personnel and counting personnel made as per specifications of the Election Commission. 864 counting tables have been put up where counting for 10,854 polling stations will be carried out.

The women here are convinced political parties don't spare a moment for their problems.No candidate talks about issues troubling them. And yes, nobody took their views into account on the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (ESZ).

Kashi Singh Airy, chief of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), the party he founded to initiate the struggle for formation of a separate hill state that would be carved out of undivided Uttar Pradesh, is not contesting elections for the first time in nearly four decades. “I am not contesting the election because the UKD has neither money nor power. My only responsibility is to assist the party candidates,” the 68-year-old leader said.

With Uttarakhand going to polls on Monday, residents in rural areas said they urgently need better healthcare, jobs and improved waste management while those in urban areas said they want better roads and green belts.

On the last day of the nomination process on Friday, a total of 750 candidates threw their hat in the ring for the 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand. Twenty candidates, the highest, are in the fray for the Dharampur seat in Dehradun, followed by 19 contenders for Doiwala and 18 for Raipur, while the Narendra Nagar, Yamkeshwar and Rudrapur seats will see a face-off between six candidates each.

Chief minister Harish Rawat faces a tough political challenge from the BJP as he seeks mandate for another term in office. Harish Rawat has led a challenging Congress campaign in the state with several party MLAs switching sides to the BJP.

Uttarakhand Election Commission on Monday began the process for filing nomination papers for civic bodies’ polls in state slated to be held on April 28.

An interesting fight will play out in Chakrata on Monday as five-time MLA and leader of opposition Pritam Singh is pitted against Ramsharan Nautiyal, father of Bollywood singer Jubin Nautiyal and BJP’s nominee from the seat.

In the past four assembly elections in Uttarakhand, a prevalent trend has been that the party that wins the Gangotri seat goes on to form the next government. The trend may, however, change this time if AAP candidate and the party's CM face, Col Ajay Kothiyal, wins from Gangotri.

Denied a ticket by Congress, former forest minister Harak Singh Rawat, who has contested every assembly poll in U’khand since 1991, is getting set to don a new role this time – to ensure a win for party candidates in his areas of influence.