Gagret: Rakesh Kalia wins by 8,487 votes

Una, June 4

Rakesh Kalia bagged his fourth stint in the state Assembly by defeating Chaitanya Sharma, who had revolted against the Congress and contested the Gagret Assembly bypoll on BJP ticket. Kalia, the Congress candidate, won by a margin of 8,487 votes.

Kalia originally hails from the Chintpurni segment and was first elected to the Assembly in 2003 from Chintpurni by defeating BJP’s Parveen Sharma by over 15,000 votes. In the 2007 poll, he defeated BJP’s Narinder Sharma by over 10,000 votes.

Before the 2012 elections, Chintpurni was reserved for SC candidates and Gagret was declared an open seat. Consequently, Rakesh Kalia shifted to Gagret, where he defeated BJP’s Sushil Kalia by 4,897 votes, but lost to BJP candidate Rajesh Thakur in 2017.

After being denied the Congress ticket in 2022, he joined the BJP and worked against Chaitanya Sharma, who won the 2022 election as Congress candidate. After Chaitanya Sharma’s disqualification from the Assembly, Rakesh re-joined the Congress and was given the ticket to contest the Gagret byelection this time.

After his victory, Rakesh Kalia said the Gagret bypoll was against corruption, deceit and lies. The Congress candidate had insulted people’s mandate, who revolted against the party after getting elected, he said, adding that, he misled the people by levelling false allegations against the CM.

Kalia said corruption cases were registered against Chaitanya Sharma and his father after the Rajya Sabha election, adding that investigating agencies were already on the job and guilty would be punished.

Kalia said ushering in development, ensuring a clean administration and transparent governance would be his priorities. He credited his win to CM Sukhu.

Son of a former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, Chaitanya Sharma launched himself through social service during which he helped the needy for various causes. He entered politics by winning the Zila Parishad seat and was elected MLA in 2022 before he rebelled against his own party.

When the BJP took Chaitanya Sharma into the party fold and allotted him the ticket for Assembly byelection, the BJP organisational cadre in Gagret had expressed resentment and threatened to resign enmass. However, with the intervention of senior state BJP leadership, the party workers had agreed to support Chaitanya Sharma. Party insiders said the workers were not happy with the high command’s decision to ignore the cadre and rope in a ‘paratrooper’ from the rival party.