By Arun Pratap Singh
Pauri, 26 Mar: The BJP candidate from Garhwal (Pauri) Lok Sabha seat, Anil Baluni, filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections at the Collectorate office here today. On this occasion, Union Minister Smriti Irani, BJP State President Mahendra Bhatt, Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ were also present along with him.
Earlier, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also addressed a rally today at the Ramlila Ground here.
Before filing his nomination, Anil Baluni also demonstrated his strength in Pauri along with senior leaders of the Centre and the State. His road show started from Ramleela Maidan and terminated at the Collectorate Office.
On this occasion, apart from Union Minister Smriti Irani, former Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, outgoing Garhwal MP Tirath Rawat, Cabinet Minister Subodh Uniyal, Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and Manish Khanduri were also present. A large number of senior BJP leaders also came in support of Baluni. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami addressed the public meeting organised in support of the BJP candidate at Pauri Ramlila Maidan. Current MP Tirath Singh Rawat and Manish Khanduri were also present. Addressing the gathering, Dhami enumerated the development projects in progress and the achievements of the government in the past two years and claimed that BJP will win handsomely from all the seats in Uttarakhand and the NDA would achieve the target of 400 plus in the country.
It may be recalled that the BJP candidate and outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni is facing former PCC Chief and former MLA Ganesh Godiyal. Godiyal is scheduled to file his nomination at the Pauri Collectorate office tomorrow.
Baluni is originally a resident of Nakol village of Pauri district. Anil Baluni’s political journey started from Pauri district. It may be recalled that he had been made the BJP candidate from Kotdwar in 2002 assembly elections but his nomination was rejected by the Electoral Officer. He later challenged the rejection of his nomination in the High Court and, later, in the Supreme Court where he managed to win the case. This led to a bypoll on the Kotdwar assembly seat but Surendra Singh Negi of Congress, who had won earlier, again managed to win the bypoll in 2005. Assembly elections were held for the first time in 2002 in Uttarakhand, which was separated from UP. Since then, Baluni has not contested any direct election but worked for the party organisation in Delhi and later was elected to the Rajya Sabha owing to his closeness to the then BJP President, Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This proximity helped him in being appointed National Spokesperson of the BJP and also the national media in charge of the party. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2018 and is completing his term in April. In the Rajya Sabha, the seat vacated by him has now gone to BJP State President Mahendra Bhatt and since then, indications were available that he may be asked to contest for the Lok Sabha from Garhwal (Pauri) in place of sitting MP Tirath Singh Rawat.
