By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 6 May: The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee has finally announced its candidate for the Champawat assembly bypoll to contest against Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. As had been stated, earlier, the previous party candidate and two-time former MLA Hemesh Kharkwal had expressed his unwillingness to contest the bypoll. It may be recalled that Kharkwal had lost the assembly election from Champawat for the second straight time to Kailash Gehtodi.
Kailash Gehtodi had resigned from the assembly after winning the election in order to enable Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to contest the bypoll, as Dhami had lost his own election from Khatima despite ensuring the party win in the state.
The polling will be held on 31 May while the counting of votes will be held on 3 June, and 11 May is the last date for filing nominations. While Dhami will file his nomination on 9 May, it is not clear, yet, when Congress candidate Nirmala Gehtodi will file her nomination.
Nirmala Gehtodi is a local Congress leader from Champawat and is considered to be an active party leader, but she faces a formidable challenge against sitting CM Pushkar Singh Dhami.
