By a staff reporter
Dehradun, 10 Apr: With only nine days left for the 19 April voting for Lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand, electioneering is underway at a slow pace, as the festive look is still missing.
In the capital, Dehradun, the scene is mainly bereft of the hubbub of the election campaign with most of the leaders resorting to occasional rallies and road shows. “In our area there is no hustle and bustle of elections,” said SK Sharma, a residence of Vijay Colony in Dehradun.
Birendra Rautela, who is an avid watcher of the elections, also said the electioneering is dull this time. “I have not noticed any election crescendo this time, at least, in Dehradun,” said Rautela, a BSNL employee.
In most of the five seats in the hill state, the contest is a straight one between the ruling BJP and Congress. In all the constituencies, the candidates are mostly relying on rallies and road shows.
The poll graffiti, posters, stickers and banners that give the elections a festive look are missing with most of the leaders of BJP and Congress busy in attacking each other on different issues ranging from the Ram Temple, Article 370, Agniveer, Silkayara tunnel, Joshimath subsidence and the Ankita Bhandari murder case.
“Ab ki bar 400 paar,” shrieks BJP’s graffiti on some walls in Dehradun. Congress banners and posters are still missing.
As per the Election Commission (EC) guidelines, political parties and candidates can use easily removable stickers, flags and banners on private properties for poll campaign with the consent of the owner of such properties, top officials said.
Interestingly, Congress has converted a portion of its headquarters at Rajpur Road into an election office for the Tehri constituency.
The main battle appears to be in the Pauri-Garhwal constituency, where BJP spokesman Anil Baluni is pitted against former Congress state Chief, Ganesh Godiyal. Both the parties are claiming victory in Pauri.
In Haridwar, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat has launched all out efforts to drum up support for his son Birendra, who is making his election debut in this seat having a sizeable Muslim population. Birendra is facing a stiff challenge from former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat (BJP).
In the rest of the three seats, Tehri, Nainital and Almora – the BJP candidates Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah, Ajay Bhatt and Ajay Tamta have an edge over the rivals.
BJP has celebrated a whitewash of 5-0 victory twice since 2014 against Congress. In 2009, Congress had swept the polls with a 5-0 victory.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to address his second election rally in Rishikesh tomorrow. A week earlier, he had addressed an impressive rally in Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district to give momentum to the BJP’s campaign. BJP President J P Nadda has already addressed three election rallies in the state.
On the other hand, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address an election rally on April 13 in Pauri and Haridwar constituencies. There is suspense over the visit of Rahul Gandhi to the state.
