By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 8 Aug: The Election Commission of India has announced bypoll dates for 7 assembly constituencies across 7 states which had fallen vacant due to the demise of the sitting members. In Uttarakhand, the Bageshwar assembly constituency had fallen vacant due to the demise of sitting member and minister Chandan Ram Das. He had passed away after a prolonged illness on 26 April this year.
Since then, the vacancies in the Pushkar Singh Dhami ministry has risen to 4 as there are only 8 ministers currently in the government including the CM.
As per the order issued by the Election Commission, the gazette notification for the by-election will be issued on 10 August, while 17 August will be the last date for filing of nominations. Scrutiny of the nominations will be done on 18 August, while 21 August will be the last date to withdraw nominations. Polling will be held on 5 September, while counting of votes will be held on 8 September and the results declared before 10 September.
So far, there is no official indication who shall be the BJP candidate from this seat, which has been a stronghold of the party. Chandan Ramdas represented the constituency continuously since 2007 and had never lost an election from when he won for the first time.
Speaking to media persons, BJP State President Mahendra Bhatt claimed that the party will soon announce the candidate from Bageshwar constituency. He stated that the party is well prepared to contest the by-election and will ensure a huge win for the party from there. He added that the party has been holding meetings in the constituency over the past month.
