By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 20 Feb: BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt has been declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand. Since the Congress did not put up any candidate, no polling was needed for the lone vacant seat from the state. Had the polling been necessary, it would have been held on 27 February. Bhatt was today declared elected unopposed and was handed over the election certificate after being elected unopposed.
Mahendra Bhatt received the election certificate from the Returning Officer in the Assembly Building, here, today. After receiving the certificate, Mahendra Bhatt first went to the Martyrs’ Memorial at the Dehradun Collectorate to pay obeisance to the statehood agitationists and martyrs.
Later, he was given a grand welcome at the party office this afternoon. Speaking on the occasion, Bhatt said that the party has entrusted him with a very important responsibility for which he was deeply grateful. He also said that he would fulfil the responsibility given to him with full integrity and sincerity. He reminded that the BJP has always given opportunity to party workers from remote areas and ordinary background to represent it in Parliament. Bhatt asserted that he would try his best to raise all pertinent issues related to the border areas in Parliament.
It was on 11 February this month that BJP leadership had announced the name of Mahendra Bhatt as the Rajya Sabha candidate. After which, on 15 February, Mahendra Bhatt filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha. In the absence of any other candidate, he was today declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha. Given the brute majority that BJP enjoys in the State Assembly, a win for Bhatt was a foregone conclusion.
It may be recalled that Mahendra Bhatt is currently the BJP state president and will be completing his tenure soon but it may be extended by a few months even if he is not given a second term. As per the BJP’s internal party constitution, one can have at most two straight terms as Party President and in the states. The tenure of the party president is two years while at the National level, it is 3 years.
Originally a resident of Brahmanthala village of Pokhri block of Chamoli district, Bhatt was born in 1971 and has been an active statehood agitationist. He also spent 5 days in Pauri jail during the Uttarakhand statehood movement. Apart from this, he actively participated in the Ram Mandir movement and as a result had to spend 15 days in Kanskhet jail of Pauri district.
Mahendra Bhatt contested his first assembly election in 2002 from Nandprayag seat of Chamoli as a BJP candidate and won. After this, he was a Minister of State in Uttarakhand from 2010 to 2012. He lost the assembly elections in 2012 but won in 2017 from Badrinath. In 2022, he again lost the assembly elections against Rajendra Bhandari of Congress. However, he has now managed to reach the Rajya Sabha.
