Uttarakhand Congress to screen candidates from November

Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UKPCC) will begin the process for selection of candidates from November. The Congress’ state unit will soon write to district congress committees (DCC) seeking a panel of ticket aspirants from all the 13 districts.

UKPCC president Ganesh Godiyal told ET that the names of the party’s 26 former MLAs are under consideration for the tickets.

“These 26 former MLAs remained with the Congress during its tough time in the past. So, I feel they deserve the party tickets in the 2022 Assembly polls also,” Godiyal said. Uttarakhand Assembly has 70 seats.


He was indirectly referring to the crisis Congress had faced in 2016 when the government was headed by then chief minister Harish Rawat. He also made it clear that Congress will not deny tickets to the 10 sitting MLAs. “I am not the final authority. Once a panel of names comes from the DCC, we will filter those names and forward them to the CWC for taking a final decision. The party is also identifying the seats where it had close contests the last time,” he said. According to Godiyal, the party has identified three main issues--unemployment, price rise and farmer issues.