By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 19 Aug: In a significant political development ahead of the 2027 Uttarakhand Assembly elections, Srinagar Municipal Corporation Mayor. Aarti Bhandari, along with 10 municipal corporators, today joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt and Cabinet Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat here. The development is being viewed as a major boost for Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, who represents the Srinagar Assembly constituency and is expected to face a formidable challenge from Pradesh Congress Committee president Ganesh Godiyal in the coming Assembly elections. At the same time, the development is also seen as a setback for Congress particularly in Srinagar.
Bhandari, accompanied by her husband and ‘social worker’ Lakhpat Singh Bhandari, formally joined the BJP along with the 10 municipal corporators. The corporators who joined the party are Vijay Chamoli Sonu, Meena Bharti, Bhavna Chauhan, Anjani Bhandari, Ashish Negi, Anurag Chauhan, Raj Kumar, Narendra Singh Rawat, Dharam Singh Rawat and Pravesh Chamoli. Of these, Anurag Chauhan and Raj Kumar were elected as Congress corporators, while the others are independents.
Bhandari‘s return to the BJP is politically significant as she had been associated with the party earlier and had sought the BJP ticket for the post of Mayor of Srinagar during the 2025 municipal elections. However, after being denied the party ticket, she contested the election as an Independent candidate and emerged victorious. She was then widely described as a BJP rebel. Bhandari secured approximately 41.12 percent of the votes, while BJP candidate Asha Upadhyay finished runner-up with around 32.17 percent.
Her victory as an Independent was then viewed by many political analysts as a major personal setback for Dhan Singh Rawat, who holds considerable political influence in the Srinagar area, being the local MLA. It was widely believed in political circles that Rawat was behind the denial of the BJP ticket to Bhandari and that he had managed to secure the party nomination for Asha Upadhyay instead. Bhandari‘s subsequent victory as an Independent had therefore acquired considerable political significance and was seen as a direct indication of the strength of her personal support base in the constituency.
Against this backdrop, Bhandari‘s return to the BJP, this time along with 10 elected independent municipal councillors, assumes added significance. The development gives Rawat a boost as he prepares for what is expected to be a keenly contested Assembly election from Srinagar. The constituency is likely to witness a direct and closely watched contest between arch rivals Rawat and Godiyal, making every shift in the local political equations important.
The development is also being seen as a setback for the Congress, particularly sources claim that the party had been making efforts to woo Bhandari and bring her into its fold. Her decision to return to the BJP, instead, has deprived the Congress of a potential local political asset at a time when the party is seeking to strengthen its organisation and electoral prospects in the Srinagar Assembly constituency.
At a function held at the BJP State Headquarters here today Bhandari said that joining the BJP is an opportunity to strengthen her commitment to development and public service. She said the BJP‘s ideology is not new to her as she had been part of the BJP family earlier as well. She expressed happiness at returning to the party along with her colleagues and said the objective is to work for the development of Srinagar and serve the people. She said that with the support of the government and the organisation, efforts would be made to develop Srinagar into a better and more developed city. At the same time, her husband and a ‘social activist’ Lakhpat Singh Bhandari said the objective of joining the BJP is to take development and public service in the region forward on a wider scale.
Welcoming Bhandari and the corporators into the BJP, Mahendra Bhatt said people are continuously joining the party after being influenced by the policies of the Central and state governments. He claimed that the process would accelerate in the coming days and more people would join the BJP. He said the people had rejected the Congress and that the growing support for the BJP is a reflection of the benefits of the policies and schemes of the Narendra Modi-led Central government and the BJP government in Uttarakhand reaching the common people.
The political importance of the Srinagar development, however, extends beyond the municipal corporation. The constituency has remained one of the politically sensitive seats in Garhwal, with the contest between Dhan Singh Rawat and Ganesh Godiyal attracting considerable attention. While the BJP is likely to project Bhandari‘s return along with the corporators as evidence of its expanding political base in Srinagar, the Congress will have to assess the impact of the development on its local organisation and electoral calculations.
For Rawat, the development is certainly a welcome political boost. Bhandari had demonstrated in the municipal election that she possesses an independent support base by defeating the BJP‘s official candidate after being denied the party ticket. Her return to the BJP, therefore, brings back into the party fold a leader who had previously demonstrated the ability to win an election outside the party organisation. The fact that she has now been joined by 10 corporators further enhances the political significance of the move. Of course, assembly elections are contested on multiple planks and factors and the real political gain for the BJP due to this development remains to be seen. Bhandari had earlier also served as a district panchayat member and Block Pramukh of Khirsu, while Lakhpat Singh Bhandari has also served as a district panchayat member.
