Congress has high hopes in the by-elections being held on two assembly seats in Uttarakhand. The party is excited by the way Congress has received huge support from the voters in Mangalore assembly seat of Haridwar district in the Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, the party is preparing a new strategy to regain the Badrinath assembly seat. To give a tough fight to the BJP here, the veteran Congress leaders of the state will camp in the area and will also campaign unitedly to increase the difficulties of the ruling party.
In the by-election on Badrinath assembly seat, Congress’s main competition is with the ruling party BJP. In the 2022 assembly elections, this seat came in the account of Congress. On the occasion of Lok Sabha elections, Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari joined BJP. Due to this seat becoming vacant, Congress has lost one seat in the assembly. This is the reason why the by-election on this seat is a question of party prestige. BJP has fielded former MLA Rajendra Bhandari from this seat. Along with Bhandari, his team of workers from Congress has also joined BJP. This is the reason why Congress took full care of caste and local equations in the selection of candidate for this seat, so that Bhandari can be challenged. Congress candidate Lakhpat Butola has been the vice-president of the district panchayat and also the president for some time.
Bhandari had been active in Butola assembly constituency since joining Congress. However, Congress was not successful in defeating BJP in this assembly constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. There are preparations to put senior leaders on the front to turn the equation of victory in their favor in the by-election. With this, a team of party workers can also be set up in the assembly constituency.
The party high command has expected all the veteran leaders of the state to unite and work in the by-election, so that the challenge of BJP can be dealt with. It is believed that former state Congress president and party candidate from Garhwal parliamentary seat Ganesh Godiyal, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, state Congress president Karan Mahara and former state president Pritam Singh Badrinath will also be seen taking charge of campaigning in favour of party candidates on Mangalore seat. State Congress president Karan Mahara said that senior party leaders will unite and put in all their efforts to ensure victory of Congress candidates in the by-election.
