Dehradun , January 29
The rebel candidates of both ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the main Opposition Congress together with the performance of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the third main political force of the state, would be the deciding factor in the third general elections for the Uttarakhand state Assembly scheduled to held on January 30.

More than a dozen rebel candidates of both the main political parties are in a position to mar the chances of the official party candidates that would ultimately decide who would rule the hill state in the next five years.

The ruling BJP has been banking heavily on the personal image of Chief Minister B.C.Khanduri and the steps taken by him in curbing corruption like bringing in Public Services Bill and Lokayukta Bill in the state. However, amidst reports of internal squabbles amongst senior BJP leaders, Khanduri himself is fighting a tough political battle of his political innings from Kotdwar Assembly segment in Pauri Garhwal.

Half a dozen party rebels in the fray are also threatening the BJP’s stake to power again. The Congress Party leaders who are banking on the anti-incumbency factor alleged scandals of BJP rule and political instability due to frequent changes of leadership during BJP rule, are no less worried about the presence of strong rebel candidates on at least a dozen seats.

Mahesh Sharma, a Congress party rebel from Kaladhungi Assembly segment of Nainital, is playing spoilsport for the official party candidate. Jot Singh Bisht, Godavari Thapli, Gulzar, S.P.Singh and Deep Sharma, the party rebels from Dhanaulti, Mussoorie, Sahaspur, Doiwala and Rishikesh Assembly segments are in a position to take a large chunk of Congress votes. Both the candidates of former Chief Minister N.D.Tewari, his nephew Manish Tewari from Gadarpur in Udham Singh Nagar district and Aryaendra Sharma, his personal assistant from Sahaspur, are facing party rebel candidates. Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat is also facing Bharat Chaudhary and Virender Bisht, two strong party rebels from Rudraprayag Assembly segment. In Haridwar district, Ambrish Kumar from Ranipur and Mufti Danish from Khanpur are strong Congress Party rebels in the fray.

The ruling BJP had not given ticket to 12 sitting legislators, including two ministers. Some of them, including Anil Nautiyal from Karanprayag, Kaliash Sharma, a former BJP legislator from Almora, Kedar Singh Fonia from Badrinath, Raj Kumar from Purola are posing problems for official candidates.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had swept the elections winning all the five seats with the swing of Dalit and Muslim voters in it’s favour. The main battle in the plains of Uttarakhand would be between Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for Dalit and Muslim votes. With Union Minister Harish Rawat, a front runner for the post of Chief Minister if the Congress gets a majority, at the helm of affairs in Haridwar, there is possibility of Congress doing better at the cost of BSP. Bahujan Samaj Party had won eight Assembly seats in the 2007 polls, six from Haridwar and two from Udham Singh Nagar district.

Dehradun, January 29
A day ahead of polling in Uttarakhand Assembly elections, both major political parties of the state, the BJP and the Congress, have made allegations against each other alleging large-scale code of conduct violations.

Uttarakhand Congress has sought immediate deployment of Central security forces in the state to ensure free and fair polls, alleging model code of conduct violations. BJP, too, has sought action against some of Congress candidates on the same ground.

A deputation of Congress leaders led by Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat today in Dehradun met Chief Election Officer, Uttarakhand, Radha Raturi and accused Uttarakhand BJP of trying to influence voters in the state by using money and muscle power. He, in particular, targeted Kotdwar Assembly seat, even accusing BJP government of using its clout to influence polls in this seat. Kotdwar Assembly seat is the hottest seat in Uttarakhand elections as Chief Minister BC Khanduri is trying his luck from this constituency.

In a memorandum submitted to Chief Election Officer Radha Raturi, Uttarakhand Congress accused Kotdwar administration of working at the behest of BC Khanduri. Citing other examples of abuse of election

machinery, the memorandum pointed out that some days back even a vehicle belonging to Vikasnagar BJP candidate and sitting MLA had been seized after a haul of liquor was found in the vehicle. It also held

that BJP was trying to use criminals to its benefit in the Sult Assembly constituency of Kumaon.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand BJP has alleged that Congress was rampantly resorting to large-scale model code of conduct violations in the state. In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Election Officer, Uttarakhand, BJP held that Congress candidates in the constituencies of Dharampur, Sahaspur and Vikasnagar Assembly constituencies had already surpassed Rs 11 lakh expenditure limits. They said Congress candidates in these constituencies were using money power to influence the polls. The BJP accused Congress leaders of violating Section 144 in Kotdwar last night. Uttarakhand election committee’s secretary Naresh Bansal, Satish Lakhera and Ajendra Ajay were part of the BJP delegation that submitted a memorandum to the Chief Election Officer.

Electioneering and the din associated with it came to an end on Saturday evening as the voters of the state prepare to vote on January 30 to elect the third assembly of the state. Political parties particularly the two main contestants- ruling BJP and main opposition Congress - left no stone unturned to influence the voters in the past fortnight of campaigning.

Despite extreme cold wave conditions sweeping the hill state, the contestants of both rival parties focussed more on door-to-door campaigning while the senior leaders of both parties criss-crossed the state in helicopters addressing election meetings and rallies.

The ruling BJP banked on party president Nitin Gadkari, senior leaders L.K.Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad and star campaigners Smriti Irani, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha in the poll campaign.

On the other hand, the Congress had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who addressed two election rallies at Roorkee and Rudrapur while party president Sonia Gandhi also addressed election rallies in different parts of the state.

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress general secretary who is also leading the party’s campaign in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, also remained the star campaigner for the Congress. He also addressed six election rallies in both Kumoan and Garhwal to put across his party’s poll strategy.

Other senior Congress leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, C.P.Joshi, Krishna Tirath, Salman Khurshid, party MPs Raj Babbar and cricketer-turned politician Azharuddin, also participated in the campaigning.

The ruling BJP banked on Chief Minister BC Khanduri’s clean image with a slogan “Khanduri hai Zaroori” while the Congress questioned the credibility of the ruling party for frequently changing their Chief Ministers in the state. They harped on the fact that during the past seven years of the BJP rule in the state, the party experimented with six Chief Ministers.

They also argued that if Khanduri was necessary then why was he was removed in 2009. The Congress also tried to hit back at the alleged scandals during the BJP rule.

The third elections of the state also saw an interesting duel between both parties through advertisements and jingles on both print and the television channels.

The BJP took the lead by making advertisements focusing on Chief Minister B.C.Khanduri with slogan of “Khanduri Hai Zaroori” and highlighting the various initiative like the Lokayukta Bill and his clean image. The party also highlighted the Army background of Khanduri and his efforts to give benefits to ex-servicemen with an aim to attracting ex-servicemen and their families, one of the largest group of voters in the state. The Congress, although late, also came up with its own advertisements where the plight of the common men and women in the hills were highlighted due to the alleged mis-governance of the state BJP government in the past five years.

The Congress also came up with its own jingle of “Hum Honge Kamyaab” on television channels. In newspapers, both parties ran page one advertisement campaigns. The Congress countered the BJP slogan of “Khanduri hai zaroori” with its own “Congress hi hai Zaroori” campaign.

Despite the fortnight-long din of the election campaign, the voters remained silent on its preference for any particular party.

Unlike the 2007 state Assembly poll when the opposition BJP was able to run an effective campaign highlighting the issues of corruption and rising prices against the ruling Congress, this time despite the hype created by both parties, the voters remained undecided and silent.

Some of the opinion polls done by various outside agencies gave edge to one party or the other but it also did not interest the local voters. The silence of the voters created the confusion among the main contesting parties and candidates that remain on their wits end waiting for the verdict of the people. — SMA Kazmi

Nainital, January 29
The high-profile constituency of Rudrapur, which is often seen as the political barometer of the Terai Bhabar areas of Kumaon region, is all set to witness a three-cornered contest. Besides the Congress and the BJP, the BSP is a serious contender for the seat.

The Congress has gone ahead with fielding its sitting legislator in the outgoing Assembly and deputy leader of the Opposition in the last Assembly Tilak Raj Behed as its candidate. Behed has been victorious from this constituency on four occasions, twice as a BJP candidate and twice as a Congress one.

The BJP has fielded Raj Kumar Thukral, who is a young leader known for propagating the Sangh Parivar brand of politics.

Also in the fray is Premanand Mahajan, who was also a sitting legislator in the outgoing Assembly from the neighboring constituency of Gadarpur. He has had to migrate to this new constituency after his traditional seat was declared reserved.

Rudrapur constituency has itself undergone a change after the delimitation with a large portion getting merged into the Kitcha seat and some portion of the erstwhile Gadarpur seat getting merged in the Rudrapur constituency.

In terms of electorate, the constituency presents a distinct profile where migrants who came here after Partition both from Punjab and Bengal are a deciding factor. In addition to this is a sizeable number of Muslim voters.

While Behed and Thukral have a strong hold mainly in the Punjabi community, Mahajan is known for his popularity amongst the Bengali voters.

The constituency also goes to polls under the shadow of the recent communal riots that had taken place on October 2. The riots which left behind four dead and scores injured along with a trail of destruction of the infrastructure were a culmination of a series of attempts over the last two years to polarise the electorate on communal lines. The victims and observers have squarely held the political forces responsible for the riots.

As regards the issues, the constituency is looking forward to getting an impetus for the industrial growth. In the rural areas there are issues pertaining to the land ownership and agrarian issues. There has been a persistent demand for a Terai Medical College, which none of the governments have been able to fulfil till now. On the local turf, there are issues of decongestion of traffic and construction of railway over bridges.

Haridwar, January 29
Despite official public campaign coming to an end, supporters of candidates resorted to intense home-to-home campaigning to make sure voters remain in their favour.

Party candidates, though, were not seen campaigning owing to strict monitoring by election officials. Yet their party workers, family members and supporters were seen moving from door to door, though either single or just in a small group to escape the Election Commission eyes.

Particularly today, emphasis was more on those voters who were earmarked vulnerable by party leaders and can shift to their side. At all party offices party workers were seen having unending discussions about their candidates’ prospects.

Be it Devpura Congress election office, BJP office, Shivalik Nagar BSP office or Independent Ambrish Kumar’s Jwalapur home-cum-office, from morning itself till late evening they were abuzz with people.

Mathematical calculations were being done of the expected polling turnout, bifurcation of votes into communities, cutting votes by dissidents contesting as Independent and also party base vote were being taken into account.

Most of the party leaders agreed that due to delimitation this time, it was not so easy to analyse or predict poll outcome or poll turnout.

Similarly, impact of Anna Hazare’s anti-graft campaign and anti-incumbency factor were also being taken into account. But one thing was common, which was claim to victory by all party workers as well as Independents. — TNS

Dehradun January 29
The BJP and Congress may be unhappy over holding Assembly elections on January 30 as leaders and star campaigners faced problems in reaching out to voters in the far-flung areas due to inclement weather and snow, other parties are rather happy that the resources-rich Congress and BJP were not able to score over them in wooing distant hill voters with various allurements.

PC Thapliyal, spokesman, Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha, said, “It is because of weather-related problems the parties like the Congress and the BJP and regional parties like us were on an equal footing. The helicopters could not fly in most interiors and campaigners had to reach out to people by walking long stretches on foot. In such a scenario, the national parties could not gain an edge over us.”

Samar Bhandari, state secretary, CPI, too aired similar opinion by saying that the star campaigners of the BJP and the Congress could not fly to the snow-covered hill areas of the state and thus it was a parallel fight for the candidates of all parties, be it big or small.

“People like us who are used to rough lifestyle such as travelling in buses and treading on difficult terrain, certainly took a lead on others who are comfort seekers and never get down from their cars. Such people remained cut off from the hill pockets where weather

played the spoilsport. This time we did not feel the pinch of being cash-strapped party.”

Pramila Rawat, president of women wing of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) and the party’s candidate for Mussoorie seat, said it had become difficult to reach some of the localities in hills due to weather as well as shortage of time for canvassing. She, however, emphasized that the candidates who had vigorously been working in their areas consistently for the past four to five years would not need to dread the weather as their past work would not go waste.

They would not need star campaigners or last-minute campaigning to win the hearts of the voters, she said.