Dehradun, Mar 12 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday announced its second list of 43 candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, including the party’s nominees for three out of a total of five parliamentary seats in Uttarakhand.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta has been fielded once again from Almora, the lone reserved SC seat in the state that he had lost to BJP’s Ajay Tamta by more than three lakh votes in 2019. He will be facing the former Union minister of state again this time.
Former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal has been fielded from Garhwal (Pauri) seat and Jot Singh Gunsola from Tehri Garhwal seat where he is pitted against Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, the daughter-in-law of the Tehri royal family and a four-time winner from the seat.
A two-term former MLA, Godiyal was defeated by the BJP’s Dhan Singh Rawat from Srinagar constituency in 2017 state assembly polls by more than 8,000 votes.
However, in 2022 assembly elections, Godiyal lost to Rawat by a far narrower margin of 587 votes.
He was the state Congress president from 2021-2022 and was succeeded by Karan Mahara who heads it at present.
The ruling BJP, which has also announced its candidates for three seats in Uttarakhand, has not yet announced its candidate for Garhwal (Pauri) seat for the coming general elections.
The seat is held in the current Lok Sabha by former Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat who had a brief four-month stint at the helm before he was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Godiyal had won from Thalisain in 2002 and from Srinagar in 2012 assembly polls – a seat he lost both in 2017 and 2022 to Rawat, a cabinet minister in Pushkar Singh Dhami government.
Jot Singh Gunsola is a two-term former member of Uttarakhand Assembly from Mussoorie.
The BJP has already announced its candidates for Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Almora (SC) and Tehri Garhnwal seats in Uttarakhand. PTI ALM ALM KSS KSS
About the Author
