DEHRADUN: Haridwar in Uttarakhand, renowned for its spiritual significance, is poised to witness a keen electoral battle. Virendra Rawat, son of former Congress CM Harish Rawat, who is making his political debut, has been pitted against former BJP CM Trivendra Rawat in Haridwar, which will go to polls on April 19 on the first phase.
According to the poll data, the BJP has a strong track record in this constituency, having secured victory six times from 1977 to 2019, with one win each for the BLD, JNP-S, and Samajwadi Party.
The Congress last emerged victorious in Haridwar in 2009. As the BJP aims for a hat-trick of wins, the Congress is optimistic of repeating a victory after 15 years.
In the last two consecutive elections, the BJP secured over 50 per cent of the votes and elected Ramesh Pokhriyal as the MP. Harish Rawat’s wife, Renuka Rawat, had lost the election from here in 2014.
Harish Rawat, who was MP from here in 2009, had expressed his unwillingness to contest the election and got his son a ticket and started campaigning for it.
“The Congress is not just pitted against the BJP; there is a larger battle unfolding where the public stands in opposition to the BJP, a contest that has captured everyone’s attention,” Harish Rawat told this newspaper.
Power crisis and Ganga conservation are key issues in the constituency, according to analysts. Despite being an energy state, frequent power cuts in Haridwar have affected the general public as well as the industrial sector.
Ganga conservation movement against pollution and illegal mining on the riverbed, incomplete highway, payment of dues of sugarcane farmers, and lack of adequate security arrangements for flood-affected areas are other key issues.
Key issues
Power crisis and Ganga conservation are key issues in the constituency, according to analysts. Despite being an energy state, frequent power cuts in Haridwar have affected the general public as well as the industrial sector.