632 candidates in the fray in Uttarakhand polls to be held on Feb 14

More than 81 lakh voters of Uttarakhand will decide the fate of 632 candidates when it goes to polls on February 14. After the withdrawal of 95 candidates on the last day for withdrawal of nominations on Monday there are a total of 632 left in the fray, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.

The number includes 136 Independents apart from candidates fielded by different political parties like the BJP, the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the BSP, the Samajwadi Party and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal. The maximum number of 117 candidates are contesting from the 10 constituencies of Dehradun district, 110 from 11 constituencies in Haridwar.

The minimum number of 14 candidates each are contesting from seats located in Champawat and Bageshwar districts. Uttarakhand where single phase polling is slated for February 14 has a total of 81.43 lakh voters. The BJP and the Congress, the two major political parties which were trying hard over the past few days to dissuade rebel candidates who had entered the fray as independents succeeded in the exercise only in some of the seats.


The BJP for example partially succeeded in convincing rebels in Doiwala, Ghansali, Piran Kaliyar and Kaladhungi seats after the intervention of Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni and former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

But its rebel candidates in nearly a dozen seats refused to withdraw from the contest as independents including Mahavir Singh Rangad from Dhanolti, Rajkumar Thukral from Rudrapur, Tika Prasad Maikhuri from Karnaprayag, Vir Singh Panwar from Dharampur, Dhirendra Singh Chauhan from Kotdwar, Dinesh Rawat from Dehradun Cantt, Manoj Shah from Bhimtal, Darshan Lal Arya from Ghansali, Manoj Koli from Yamunotri, Kamlesh Bhatt from Chakrata, Ajay Tiwari from Kichcha.

Congress succeeded in dissuading rebel candidates from contesting in Rishikesh and Sahaspur but continues to face a challenge from them in half a dozen seats including Lalkuan from where Harish Rawat is contesting, and Yamunotri, Ramnagar, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Ghansali.