Uttarakhand elections: Congress changes 5 candidates 2 days after announcing names; ex-CM Harish Rawat to now contest from Lalkuwa instead of Ramnagar

DEHRADUN: Massive discontent witnessed in the Uttarakhand unit of the Congress soon after tickets were announced made the party change five of its candidates late on Wednesday, with the most significant change being that of former CM Harish Rawat’s seat.
Rawat was earlier scheduled to contest from Ramnagar but following strong protests by his ex-loyalist Ranjit Rawat who sources said threatened to contest from the seat as an independent, the former CM had to be shifted to Lalkuwa constituency.Earlier, Congress had announced Sandhya Dalakoti as the candidate from Lalkuwa.

Former minister Harish Chand Durgapal was among the frontrunners for the Congress ticket from Lalkuwa and on being denied the ticket, has announced to contest as an independent. The party has fielded Ranjit Rawat as its candidate from the Salt seat. Ranjit is a two-time MLA (2002, 2007) from Salt.
In place of Harish Rawat, the party has given a ticket to Mahendra Pal Singh from Ramnagar. Mahendra Pal Singh was earlier given a ticket from Kaladhungi. Mahesh Sharma has been made the party candidate from Kaladhungi.
Interestingly, Harish Rawat’s daughter Anupama Rawat has been given the ticket from Haridwar (rural). In 2017, Harish had contested from the seat and lost to BJP’s Swami Yatishwaranand. Yashpal Rana has been made the party candidate from Roorkee while Kesar Singh Negi has been given the ticket from Chaubattakhal. Earlier, it was being speculated that Harak Singh Rawat, who recently rejoined Congress, will be fielded from Chaubattakhal but with Negi’s nomination, the speculation has been laid to rest.
Former MLA Om Gopal Rawat, who joined Congress on Wednesday morning, was announced the
party candidate from Narendra Nagar in the evening hours. He had won the constituency in 2007 and gave a tough fight to BJP’s Subodh Uniyal in 2012 and 2017.
In its earlier list, Congress had made Barkha Rani the party candidate from Jwalapur constituency but she has now been replaced by Ravi Bahadur. Another replacement was in the Doiwala seat where the party had earlier named Mohit Uniyal as its nominee but on Wednesday, Gaurav Chaudhary was declared the party candidate for the seat.