By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 13 Jul: In a setback for the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand, Congress managed to win the assembly by-poll in Manglaur as well as in Badrinath constituency against the ruling BJP. Congress candidate Qazi Nizamuddin who was a three time former MLA from the same constituency managed to win against his nearest rival Kartar Singh Bhadana of BJP by a narrow margin of 422 votes. This seat had been won by BSP candidate Sarwat Karim Ansari of BSP in 2022 general assembly election but fell vacant due to sudden demise of the incumbent MLA in October 2023.
On the other hand, Congress candidate Lakhpat Butola from Badrinath constituency managed to secure win against the outgoing MLA and BJP candidate Rajendra Bhandari. This seat had fallen vacant due to sudden resignation of sitting MLA Rajendra Singh Bhandari who resigned just before the Parliamentary Elections after quitting Congress and joining the BJP. The election result comes as a personal setback for Bhandari. Butola won the Badrinath seat against Bhandari by a margin of 5095 votes. While Butola secured 27,696, Bhandari secured a total of 22,601 votes. This result can be seen to be a personal setback for BJP State President Mahendra Bhatt too as he is a former BJP MLA from this constituency only and had played a significant role in bringing Rajendra Bhandari from Congress to BJP.
In Manglaur Qazi Nizamuddin secured 31,737 votes while BJP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana secured 31,305 votes. BSP which has been winning this seat frequently was relegated to a distant third position as its candidate Ubaidur Rahman alias Monty could secure only 19,552 votes. Rahman failed to gain sympathy support from the voters despite being the son of late Sarwat Karim Ansari.
Despite tall claims by the Congress, the reality is that it has just managed to win narrowly in Manglaur and despite being an outsider and someone who has only recently joined the BJP, Kartar Singh Bhadani managed to give a very tough fight to Nizamuddin losing just by 422 votes. BJP can take consolation from the fact that it managed to give a tough fight to Congress in Manglaur, a seat never won by the BJP ever since the formation of Uttarakhand. In fact, in this bypoll, BJP managed to narrow the margin against Congress as compared to the recently concluded Parliamentary polls. Poll pundits claim that Bhadana performed well despite losing also by consolidating Gujjar votes which are in significant numbers in the constituency. In the history of Uttarakhand, BJP has never won the Mangalore assembly seat in all the elections that have been held so far, BJP always stood at third position behind Congress and BSP but this time, it claim closer to win. There are 61,000 Muslim voters in Manglaur assembly seat and it is a big thing for BJP to come second there.
As far as Badrinath seat is concerned, it lost according to political analysts for miscalculations. Bhandari was inducted in BJP from Congress just months ago and was not generally accepted by the party cadre of BJP despite the fact that this constituency is the local constituency of BJP State President Mahendra Bhatt for whom it will remain a big setback for not being able to secure win in the bypoll. Another factor was the fact that Congress made an alleged video of Bhandari viral in which was allegedly seen cursing Brahmin voters. A major plus point for the Congress was that it contested this election in a much more organised and united manner as compared to the BJP. Its strategy proved to be superior.
Overall, the election results are a big morale boosting gain for the Congress and a matter of some concern for the ruling BJP. Political experts feel that BJP will have to forgo the tendency of inducting leaders from the other parties very frequently in order to keep its cadre happy.
