Voters in nine seats in Udham Singh Nagar district and 11 seats in Haridwar district are faced with multiple dilemmas as parties try to solve the complex caste and communal equations in these plains districts of Uttarkhand.
Dalits and Muslims hold the key to the seats in Haridwar, where, of the 13 lakh voters, about 4 lakh are Muslims and 2.5 lakh are Dalits. In Udham Singh Nagar, however, it is the Sikh votes that matter. Of the 11 lakh voters in the district, between 2-2.5 lakh voters are Muslims, about 2 lakh voters are Dalits, and about 1.8 lakh are Sikhs.
In the outgoing Assembly, the 20 seats were divided with the BJP getting 11 seats, the Congress six and the BSP three. While the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been going all out to woo voters in these two districts that fall along the U.P. border, the BJP is banking on votes being split between the two.
In a calculated move, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has fielded himself from two seats in both districts — Haridwar Rural in Haridwar district and Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar.
Justifying his decision, Mr Rawat said at an election rally in Haridwar: “I am faced with the challenge of forming a government in Uttarakhand. Haridwar has 11 seats and Udham Singh Nagar has nine... very frankly, I need victory over maximum number of seats in the two districts and that is why I am here to request you for your votes.”
With the BSP and the Congress vying for the same vote bank, Mr Rawat will not have it easy, particularly as the BSP has fielded Muslim candidates on six of the 20 seats.
As caste and religion will play a decisive role in 20 seats, all parties have fielded their star campaigners — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BSP Supremo Mayawati, and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi — to address rallies here.
Advantage BSP
Mohammad Ehsan from Haridwar’s Manglour said, “Our vote is for the BSP. We have a Muslim BSP candidate from Manglour and we will vote for him.”
Mohammad Shafi Haji from Haridwar’s Laksar seat said, “The BJP doesn’t acknowledge Muslim votes. The BJP candidate has not even come to us to ask for votes. Our votes will either go to the BSP or the Congress.”
While the BJP will garner a minimal number of votes from the Dalits and the Muslims in the two districts, it is banking on the “Modi wave”.
Rebel factor
In Haridwar’s Khanpur seat, Congress rebel Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion is the BJP candidate. On the Roorkee seat in Haridwar the contest is between Congress rebel Pradeep Batra who is now the BJP candidate, and BJP rebel Suresh Jain who is now a Congress candidate.
In Udham Singh Nagar’s Sitarganj seat former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and now a Congress rebel Vijay Bahuguna has fielded his son Saurabh Bahuguna as the BJP candidate. On the district’s Jaspur seat Congress rebel Shailendra Mohan Singhal is the BJP candidate, and on the Bazpur seat Congress rebel Yashpal Arya is the BJP candidate.
Mr. Champion, Mr. Batra, Mr. Vijay Bahuguna and Mr Singhal had, last year, colluded with the BJP in a bid to overthrow the Rawat government. Following the political turmoil the State was put under President’s Rule. While Mr Rawat did spring back to power, it was at the cost of the rebel MLAs. The impact of last year’s political turmoil will be crucial in the upcoming polls.
