Kedarnath bypolls
By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
RUDRAPRAYAG, 23 Nov: Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Asha Nautiyal managed to comfortably defeat Congress candidate Manoj Rawat in the Kedarnath Assembly byelection on Saturday, thus retaining the seat for her party in a high stake byelection. It had become a matter of prestige for the ruling party, the BJP, to win this election particularly in the wake of its defeat in Badrinath byelection. Asha Nautiyal emerged victorious by defeating Congress candidate Manoj Rawat by a margin of over 5,600 votes. However Independent candidate Tribhuvan Singh did surprise the political analysts by managing to secure more than 9,300 votes. It may be recalled that polling on this seat was held on 20 November. The byelection had been necessitated here due to death of incumbent MLA Shaila Rani Rawat (BJP), in July this year.
BJP has won by a margin of 5,623 votes. Asha Nautiyal bagged 23,814 votes, while Congress candidate Manoj Rawat garnered 18,191 votes, with independent candidate Tribhuvan Singh standing third with 9,303 votes. The political analysts were considering that this election will be a closely contested one but in the end, Asha Nautiyal managed to defeat her nearest rival, Manoj Rawat by a comfortable margin. She was leading over her rivals in every round. It was expected that the contest would be between the BJP and the Congress though, the independent candidate Tribhuvan Singh registered a strong presence in the election. His performance also played a role in ensuring a comfortable win for the BJP.
The counting of votes began at 8 am on Satureday, with BJP maintaining the lead from the first round itself. By 12:30 pm, Asha Nautiyal was declared the winner. Her victory once again proved the trend of female candidates winning in Kedarnath. Nautiyal continued to consolidate her lead in every round of counting. By the end of the 14 rounds, she had secured victory. In the first round, Asha Nautiyal received 1,398 votes, leading by 213 votes. Independent candidate Tribhuvan Singh was in second place with 1,185 votes, and Congress candidate Manoj Rawat was in third place with 915 votes. UKD’s Ashutosh Bhandari received 66 votes, Independent RP Singh got 32 votes, and PPI (D)’s Pradeep Roshan received 26 votes.
It may be recalled that Nautiyal is a former two time MLA and has now managed to become an MLA for the third time while her main rival Manoj Rawat of Congress is also a former one time MLA when he had defeated Shaila Rani Rawat of BJP in 2017 as well as Asha Nautiyal who was contesting as an Independent w. Manoj Rawat remains the only male candidate to have won this seat since the formation of Uttarakhand as a separate state. This has been mostly a women centric Assembly constituency. Here, women participate in polling in much larger numbers than their male counterparts. In the Kedarnath Assembly constituency, the number of women voters is higher than male voters. This is why the role of women voters is crucial in the elections. Women voters turned out in large numbers, with a voting percentage of 61.64 per cent compared to 55.65 per cent for male voters. Out of 90,875 voters, 45,956 are women, and 44,919 are men. In the by-election held on November 20, 28,329 women cast their votes, while only 25,197 men voted. Overall, 3,132 more women voted than men.
Congress had high hopes for the Kedarnath Assembly seat by-election, particularly in the wake of its win in Badrinath and Manglaur Assembly byelections. While there were some major differences in opinion among senior party leaders over the candidature of Manoj Rawat, the party in the end did put up a united fight. However, their efforts did not pay off, and party candidate Manoj Rawat faced defeat.
A total of 14 tables were set up for counting EVM votes, 10 for postal ballots, and 10 for ETPBS. General observer Vinod Seshan, appointed by the Election Commission, reviewed the preparations for the counting of votes. Voting for the Kedarnath seat by-election was held on November 20, with 53,513 out of 90,875 voters exercising their franchise. The counting of postal ballots started at 8 am, followed by the counting of EVM votes.
There were six candidates in fray, namely Asha Nautiyal of BJP, Manoj Rawat of Congress Dr Ashutosh Bhandari of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and independents Tribhuvan Singh Chauhan, RP Singh and Pradeep Roshan Rudiya.
Earlier, on Friday, the second randomisation of counting personnel was done in the NIC room in the presence of Vinod Seshan. District Election Officer Saurabh Gaharwar shared that in all, 103 personnel, including Reserves, were deployed to conduct the counting of votes successfully.
Asha Nautiyal’s victory in Kedarnath seat has once again proved the trend of female candidates winning in this constituency. So far, five women MLAs have been elected on the Kedarnath Assembly seat. Asha Nautiyal first won on behalf of BJP in the 2002 Assembly elections and was re-elected in 2007. In 2012, she faced defeat, but Congress candidate Shaila Rani Rawat won the election. The trend continued with Shaila Rani winning again in 2022. This time, Asha Nautiyal has won as a BJP candidate.
