17000 candidates, 4679 polling stations, 5823 polling stations, 8000 police… voting for the first phase of Uttarakhand Panchayat elections will be held tomorrow
On Thursday, voting will be held in 49 blocks of 12 districts of the state for the first phase of Panchayat elections. There are two districts where elections will be completed in the first phase itself, which include Bageshwar and Rudraprayag. 17,829 candidates are in the fray in the first phase, while 14,751 candidates are in the fray in the second phase to be held on July 28. For the first phase of voting, voting is to be held at 5823 polling stations of 4679 polling centers in 49 blocks of the state, out of which 1521 are sensitive centers and 533 are highly sensitive centers. For this, about 8 thousand police personnel, 3420 Home Guard personnel, 2376 PRD, 1512 forest workers along with 22 companies of PAC have been deployed.
At present, SDRF and NDRF have been kept on alert mode to deal with any emergency due to monsoon. The reputation of many bigwigs will be at stake in tomorrow’s voting-
In Pithoragarh – Former Municipal Council President Kamala Chufal is contesting the election for the District Panchayat member from Didihat block, Chufal is a BJP supported candidate, so the reputation of BJP is also at stake here. Narendra Deupa is also in the fray for the post of District Panchayat member from Didihat block. Deupa’s election will be interesting. Narendra Deupa’s nomination was canceled earlier, he is in the election fray after the order of the High Court.
In Nainital – BJP MLA Sarita Arya’s reputation is at stake on the Bhawali village District Panchayat member seat of Betal Ghat block. Her son Rohit Arya is in the fray from this seat.
In Tehri – Former Cabinet Minister Matbar Singh Kandhari’s reputation is also at stake. Here his son Rajiv Kandhari is in the fray from the Kshetra Panchayat Baheda seat of Bhilgana block. Kandhari is considered a strong contender for the post of Block Pramukh.
In Tehri, all eyes will be on the Butsi district panchayat seat. Here, Sita Devi, who won from the High Court, is in the fray, while Sarita Nakot, who lost the case in the Supreme Court and was declared unopposed winner earlier, is also in the fray.
In Almora- BJP MLA Pramod Nainwal’s brother Satish Nainwal is in the fray for area panchayat member from Tadikhet block. Here, former speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal will also be tested tomorrow. His daughter-in-law Sunita Kunjwal is contesting for district panchayat member from Khankar seat.
In Uttarkashi- Outgoing district panchayat president Deepak Bijalwan is contesting for district panchayat member once again from Purola’s Ramaward. BJP’s former district president Satyendra Rana is in the fray from here. How prestigious this seat is for the BJP can be gauged from the fact that BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt himself campaigned in favour of Satyendra Rana on this seat.
In Dehradun- Congress leader Pritam Singh’s prestige is at stake on the Birnad seat of Chakrat block. Pritam Singh’s son Abhishek is contesting the election for the district panchayat member from here. Abhishek is a contender for the district panchayat president. He may have a tough fight with outgoing district president Madhu Chauhan, wife of traditional rival MLA Munna Singh Chauhan. Madhu Chauhan is also contesting from Kachta seat.
In Bageshwar- Neema Gadiya, wife of former MLA Sher Singh Gadiya in Kapkot, is in the fray. She is contesting the district panchayat member election with the support of BJP on Toli seat. In Bageshwar, outgoing district panchayat president Basanti Dev is also contesting from Kunwari seat once again.
