By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 31 Jul: The date of the Assembly Byelection from Kedarnath has not been declared as yet by the Election Commission of India, but the lobbying for the ticket has already begun in both the major political parties, namely the BJP and Congress. This seat from district Rudraprayag recently fell vacant due to the sudden demise of the incumbent, MLA Shaila Rani Rawat, on 9 July. The Chief Election Officer of Uttarakhand, Dr BVR Purushottam, has already sent his recommendation to the Election Commission in this regard, but the date of the by-poll is yet to be declared.
According to sources, Manoj Rawat, who was defeated as Congress candidate by Shaila Rani Rawat in 2022 continues to lead the race for the party ticket from Kedarnath. Rawat is considered to be very close to veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat and continues to enjoy his support. It is believed by his supporters that Harish Rawat can still secure a ticket for him from Kedarnath for the bypoll. However, to make his task somewhat more challenging, veteran Congress leader and former Minister Harak Singh Rawat is also learnt to have jumped into the race. Harak Singh Rawat has contested and won assembly elections from several constituencies in the past including Rudraprayag and Kotdwar. Kedarnath is part of Rudraprayag district and, for this, Harak Singh Rawat has pushed his claim for the party ticket. Meanwhile, after retaining the Badrinath seat and wresting the Manglaur seat from BSP, the Congress party’s morale is up in the state despite having been defeated in all the 5 seats in the recently concluded Parliamentary Election. For the Congress it is also an issue of creating the narrative that BJP’s popularity in Uttarakhand is waning and that narrative can be pushed further if the Congress manages a win in Kedarnath Bypoll. The seriousness of the Congress party to win this seat is evident from the fact that the party is currently taking out a Padyatra to Kedarnath and accusing the BJP of violating the sanctity of Kedarnath. Sources claimed that, under the present circumstances, the Congress is no mood to take a huge risk and this makes Manoj Rawat a strong contender for the ticket as compared to Harak Singh. The claims of Harak Singh Rawat can’t be ignored straight away as he is a leader who has never lost an election. In the Parliamentary elections, Harak Singh Rawat did not actively campaign. However, he was back in active politics during the recently held byelections in Manglaur and Badrinath and has now been seen actively involved in the ongoing Congress Padyatra to Kedarnath even when he and the PCC Chief Karan Mahara are known to be not on very sweet terms with each other. His supporters see his involvement in the Padyatra as a way to stake a claim for the party ticket from Kedarnath. After having quit the BJP just before the 2022 assembly elections and returning to Congress, Harak Singh has been largely sidelined by the party. Though in 2022 assembly elections, he did not contest the election but had managed a Congress ticket for his daughter in law Anukruti Gusain from Lansdowne which she had contested unsuccessfully. Later, Anukruti Gusain quit the Congress for personal reasons and joined the BJP in April this year. This development weakens the claim of Harak Singh Rawat to some extent. Also, some allegations of corruption as Forest Minister during the period 2017-22 also weaken his claim. But he remains a shrewd politician and his claims can’t just be brushed away as allegation of corruption is not a major issue in politics these days. Besides, this, Harak Singh Rawat continues to have deep contacts within the Congress in New Delhi.
Some sources have also claimed that former PCC Chief Ganesh Godiyal was also being considered as candidate from Kedarnath. Whether or not true, but Godiyal may still get to play a role in selection of the party candidate from Kedarnath.
It may be recalled that Shaila Rani Rawat had won this seat in 2012 on the Congress ticket but in 2016 along with other rebel Congress MLAs had switched loyalty to the BJP before the 2017 assembly elections. She was given the ticket from Kedarnath by the BJP leadership which had ignored strong claims of two-time MLA Asha Nautiyal who had won this seat on the BJP ticket in 2002 and 2007 assembly elections. In 2012, she lost to Shaila Rani Rawat of Congress. Shaila Rani Rawat lost as BJP candidate from Kedarnath against Manoj Rawat of Congress in 2017 but was again repeated as the BJP candidate in 2022, this time registering a good win against Rawat. One added advantage this time for Shaila Rani Rawat was that former MLA Asha Nautiyal did not contest as an independent candidate in 2022 and had returned to the BJP, so the BJP votes were not split.
BJP is yet to take a final call, but Asha Nauityal is a strong contender for the party ticket in case the BJP does not decide to field some family member of Shaila Rani Rawat in order to gain sympathy votes. BJP in Uttarakhand has generally been successful so far with this strategy in case of Chanda Pant, Parvati Das, Savita Kapoor and others.
