By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 31 May: Over 63 percent polling was reported in the by-election in Champawat from where Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is contesting as BJP candidate. The final figures of voting were still being worked out when this report was filed but the figure is likely to go beyond 63 percent. With the polling over, the fate of the four candidates including that of Chief Minister Dhami was locked in the EVM machines. As per the reports received, 51.05 per cent polling was recorded till 3 p.m. Till 1 p.m., 45.90 per cent voting was recorded, while 33.96 percent voting was recorded till 11 a.m.
The counting of the votes will be held on 3 June which would decide Dhami’s vote.
Four candidates, including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami are in the fray in the by-election. For the fifth assembly of Uttarakhand, polling has been held for the second time in Champawat, today, barely three months after the polling on 15 February.
While the Congress candidate Nirmala Gehtodi cast her vote at the GIC polling booth in Champawat, and the SP supported candidate Manoj, Bhatt, too cast his vote but Chief Minister Dhami, being a registered voter of Khatima Assembly constituency, could not exercise his franchise.
In fact, he was in Dehradun today on the day of polling, though during the campaigning, Dhami did spend a considerable amount of time in Champawat.
Commenting on the polling held, today, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said it was no longer about the party, but about development. People were voting for development in large numbers. He expressed hope that, this time, the voting percentage would be very high and it would be a historic win for the BJP in Champawat.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Nirmala Gehtodi today accused outside elements of threatening her during the election campaign. She also sat on a dharna at the Collectorate, accusing outside MLAs and BJP leaders of influencing the elections in Champawat. She said that the peaceful polling was being disturbed by the BJP.
On the other hand, former CM Harish Rawat said that the party had given respect to women by fielding Nirmala Gehtodi, who had the background of participating in several struggles on various issues in the state. He claimed that Gehtodi would give a tough fight to CM Dhami in the bypoll. Harish Rawat said that the development of Champawat and the rights of the people were important issues for the Congress, but the BJP was steeped in the arrogance of power.
Apart from CM Dhami, Congress’s Nirmala Gehtodi, SP supported Manoj Kumar Bhatt and independent candidate Himanshu Gadkoti are in the fray from the Champawat seat.
It may be recalled that by-election in Champawat was necessitated due to the fact that Chief Minister Dhami had lost his own assembly election from Khatima during the assembly elections although, under his leadership, the BJP created history by retaining power and that too by a comfortable majority in Uttarakhand. BJP’s central leadership chose to retain Dhami as CM despite his personal loss and, as a result, he had to fight the by-poll after the sitting MLA Kailash Gehtodi vacated the seat to enable him to contest the by-poll.
