New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS): The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 59 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Uttarakhand BJP president Madan Kaushik will contest from Khatima and Haridwar Assembly constituency respectively.
Union Minister and BJP state election in-charge Pralhad Joshi and national general secretary Arun Singh released the first list. While releasing first list of 59 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls on Thursday, the BJP accused the Congress of step-motherly treatment of the state during ten years of UPA regime.
Joshi said the party will fight election on the basis of the “historic” development works done by the double engine government and slogan of ‘Kiya hai, karti hai aur karti rahegi’ (has done, is doing, will continue to do).
In the first list, the BJP has replaced ten sitting MLAs, including former state chief minister B.C. Khanduri’s daughter Ritu Khanduri, with new faces.
Joshi said that among the 59 candidates 31 are graduates, 18 are postgraduates, four are spiritual leaders and more than 10 per cent are women.
The six women candidates are Rekha Arya (Someshwar), Chandra Pant (Pithoragarh), Sarita Arya (Nainital), Renu Bisht (Yamkeshwar) Kunwarrani Devyani (Khanpur) and Savita Kapoor (Dehradun Cantt).
BJP national media in charge and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni, highlighting the achievements of the double engine government, expressd hope that the people of Devbhoomi will bless them and vote them to power again. Meanwhile attacking Congress, Joshi said the grand old party gave the state a step-motherly treatment during ten years of UPA regime.
Joshi claimed that after the formation of the Modi government at the Centre in 2014 and the BJP government in Uttarakhand in 2017, state’s development got impetus.
The BJP national general secretary also accused the grand old party of the same charges and claimed that the saffron party will form the government with overwhelming majority.
The BJP has fielded Saurabh Bahuguna, son of former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, from Sitarganj. Senior leader Satpal Maharaj has been fielded from Chaubattakhal and Dhan Singh Rawat from Srinagar. Bansidhar Bhagat has been fielded from Kaladhungi, Swami Yatishwaranand from Haridwar Rural, Pradeep Batra from Roorkee, Ganesh Joshi from Mussoorie and Bishan Singh Chufal from Didihat.
Joshi said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the BJP government in the state has taken Uttarakhand to new heights of development.
Singh said that Uttarakhand has witnessed an overall development under a double engine government and the BJP will win the election with a thumping majority.
The names of BJP candidates for the remaining 11 seats of the Uttarakhand Assembly seats will be announced soon.
Voting for 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly will be held on February 14 and counting of votes will take place on March 10.
The candidates are Khatima: Pushkar Singh Dhami; Haridwar: Madan Kaushik; Purola: Durgeshwar Lal; Yamunotri: Kedar Singh Rawat: Gangotri Suresh Chauhan; Badrinath: Mahendra Bhatt; Tharali: Bhopal Ram Tamta; Karnprayag: Anil Nautiyal; Rudraprayag: Bharat Singh Chaudhary;
The constituencies and candidates announced by the BJP are: Khatima – Pushkar Singh Dhami; Haridwar – Madan Kaushik; Purola- Durgeshwar Lal; Yamunotri – Kedar Singh Rawat; Gangotri- Suresh Chauhan; Badrinath – Mahendra Bhatt; Tharali- Bhopal Ram Tamta; Karnprayag – Anil Nautiyal; Rudraprayag- Bharat Singh Chaudhary; Ghansali – Shaktilal Shah; Devprayag – Vinod Kandari; Narendranagar- Subodh Uniyal; Pratapnagar – Vijay Singh Panwar alias Guddu; Dhanaulti – Pritam Singh Panwar; Chakrata – Ramsharan Nautiyal; Vikasnagar- Munna Singh Chauhan; Sahaspur- Sahdev Singh Pundir; Dharampur- Vinod Chamoli; Raipur- Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’; Rajpur Road- Khajandas; Dehradun Cantt- Savita Kapoor; Mussoorie – Ganesh Joshi; Rishikesh- Premchand Agarwal; BHEL Ranipur- Adesh Chauhan; Jwalapur- Suresh Rathore; Bhagwanpur – Master Satyapal; Roorkee – Pradeep Batra; Khanpur- Kunwar Rani Devyani; Mangalore- Dinesh Panwar; Laksar – Sanjay Gupta; Haridwar Rural – Swami Yateeshwaranand; Yamkeshwar – Renu Bisht; Pauri – Rajkumar Koli; Srinagar- Dhan Singh Rawat; Chaubattakhal – Satpal Maharaj; Lansdowne – Dilip Singh Rawat; Dharchula – Dhan Singh; Didihat- Bishan Singh Chufal; Pithoragarh – Chandra Pant; Gangolihat – FR Tamta; Kapkot- Suresh Gadhia; Bageshwar- Chandan Ram Das; Dwarahat- Anil Shahi; Salt – Mahesh Singh Jeena; Someshwar – Rekha Arya; Almora- Kailash Sharma; Lohaghat – Puran Singh Fartyal; Champawat – Kailash Gahatodi; Bhimtal- Ram Singh Kaida; Nainital- Sarita Arya; Kaladhungi – Bansidhar Bhagat; Ramnagar – Diwan Singh Bisht; Jaspur- Shailendra Mohan Singhal; Kashipur- Trilok Singh Cheema; Bajpur – Rajesh Kumar; Gadarpur- Arvind Pandey; Kichha – Rajesh Shukla; Sitarganj – Saurabh Bahuguna; Nanakmatta – Prem Singh Rana.