Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Ajay Bhatt and Ajay Tamta repeated as candidates

Dehradun, 2 Mar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of party candidates for the coming Parliamentary Elections. The announcement of the first list of candidates was made this evening by BJP’s General Secretary Vinod Tawade, in the presence of BJP’s Vice President Baijayant Panda and BJP’s Media Incharge Anil Baluni, at a press conference held at BJP’s National Headquarters in New Delhi. In all, 195 candidates have been announced through the first list from across the country so far by the party.

From Uttarakhand, sitting MP from Tehri, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, sitting MP from Almora (SC reserved constituency) Ajay Tamta and Union Minister of State for Defence and sitting MP from Nainital, Ajay Bhatt have been repeated as the party candidates from their respective seats.

Candidates from the remaining two seats, namely Haridwar and Pauri have not been announced in the first list. It was being speculated that the party might change two candidates out of 5. The non declaration of the names of candidates from Haridwar and Pauri indicates that the party is mulling on various options. Haridwar is currently represented by former Chief Minister and former Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, while Pauri is currently represented by former Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat. It may be recalled that after retaining the Haridwar seat for the BJP.

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had been appointed as Union Education Minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nishank, credited for bringing New Education Policy, however had to resign as Union Minister allegedly on health grounds as during the Covid pandemic, he had suffered prolonged sickness. Haridwar Lok Sabha seat with a large population of SC and Muslim voters is demographically quite different a constituency as compared to the other constituencies of the state, and this remains a seat where the Congress has performed well traditionally and also during the 2022 assembly elections.

It remains to be seen whether the party will ultimately choose Nishank as its candidate from Haridwar or bring a new candidate, preferably from the plains background. Similarly in respect of Pauri, there are many serious contenders for the party ticket. Among them include former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and BJP’s National Media In charge Anil Baluni who is currently outgoing MP in Rajya Sabha and enjoys confidence and trust of Party High Command. Deepti Rawat Bharadwaj is yet another contender to the party ticket from Pauri. It was also being speculated that BJP might consider a change of candidate in respect of Tehri Lok Sabha seat since the sitting MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah was considered by a section of party workers as not easily approachable and accessible to the people and to the party workers. But she and her family enjoys trust and confidence of the party high command which is proven by her being repeated as the party candidate.

On Almora seat, State’s Social Welfare Minister Rekha Arya was also a serious contender of the ticket, but it appears that Tamta continues to enjoy the confidence of the party. Sources in the party claimed that prior to the distribution of the ticket, the party had conducted several internal surveys to gauge the popularity of the sitting MPs and the contenders for the ticket in various constituencies.