Uttarakhand BJP chief pitted against seer, close contest likely

HARIDWAR: The stage is set for a close contest on the Haridwar city seat, as BJP has fielded its state party chief Madan Kaushik, who is also four-time MLA from the area, while Congress has given the ticket to local seer, Satpal Brahmachari, former chairman of Haridwar Nagar Palika (now nagar nigam), whose tenure as civic body chief won him supporters across party lines. Brahmachari is regarded as having a clean image and is expected to give a tough fight to Kaushik, who is facing anti-incumbency.
This is the second time that Brahmachari, a popular Congress face in Haridwar known to have a support base on the ground, has got the party ticket. In fact, when another seer, Brahmaswarup Brahmachari, got the Congress ticket from Haridwar city seat in 2017 instead of Satpal Brahmachari, many were disappointed. “It made Kaushik’s victory easy,” said a disgruntled BJP worker from Haridwar who did not want to be named.
In 2012, when Satpal Brahmachari was pitted against Kaushik in the seat, he lost, but significantly brought down the victory margin for the latter as compared to the previous assembly elections. In 2007, Congress had pitted Purushottam Sharma against Kaushik and Sharma lost by over 28,000 votes, which was the highest winning margin that year. In the next elections in 2012, Kaushik won again but this time with a margin of only 8,000 votes. In 2012, when Congress fielded Brahmaswarup Brahmachari, Kaushik won by a huge margin of 35,000 votes.
As per residents, even though Kaushik may face anti-incumbency, there are several factors in his favour. He has been a cabinet minister two times and held important portfolios. Ravi Dutt Sharma, a local RSS worker, said, “Kaushik has done a lot for the city. Lately, he helped shift electricity cables and gas pipelines underground.”
Sharma added that “Satpal is the only leader in Congress who can give Kaushik a tough fight”. However, Kaushik will also face challenges. “People are not satisfied with the way projects like Amrit Ganga, Namami Gange and underground cabling have been done,” said Ratan Mani Dobhal, a resident of Bhupatwala.