With the commencement of the process of by-election for the Bageshwar seat of the Vidhansabha, political agitation has also intensified. In the race to outdo each other, all kinds of tactics are being used, so the war of words is no less. The picture will be clear in the days to come regarding who will be crowned with victory and who will be defeated. However, the history since the formation of the state has been telling a different story. The key to victory in the by-elections held for the vacant seats of the assembly has always been with the ruling parties.
If you look at the history of assembly elections, Bageshwar is the 15th seat for which bypoll is currently being held. The seat has fallen vacant due to the demise of cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das. The ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress have started laying the board as soon as the by-election schedule for this seat is fixed, but if we look at the history of the by-elections, the candidates of the ruling parties have always won.
In the first assembly elections held in the year 2002, the Congress came to power and Narayan Dutt Tiwari became the Chief Minister. He was not a member of the assembly, so Ramnagar MLA Yogamber Singh Rawat vacated the seat for him. Tiwari won. Congress candidate Surendra Singh Negi won again in the by-election held in the year 2005 after the election of Kotdwar seat of Vidhansabha was cancelled.
In the election of the second assembly, the people handed over the power to the BJP. The seat was vacated by then Congress MLA retired Lt Gen TPS Rawat from Dhumakot seat for then Chief Minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri.
In 2009, the seat was won by BJP’s Sher Singh Gadia in a bye-election when Bhagat Singh Koshyari, MLA from Kapkot, was elected to the Rajya Sabha. In the year 2009 itself, BJP’s Kuldeep Kumar had won the by-election for Vikas Nagar seat.
During the tenure of the third Vidhansabha from 2012 to 2017, by-elections were held in maximum five seats. Then the Congress government was formed and in the year 2012 BJP’s Kiran Mandal left the seat from Sitarganj for the then Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. Bahuguna was victorious in the by-election.
In 2014, after the election of MLA from Doiwala Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and MLA from Someshwar Ajay Tamta to the Lok Sabha, the Congress won the by-elections held on these seats. Then Hira Singh Bisht from Doiwala and Rekha Arya from Someshwar were victorious.
Along with this, party MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami had left his seat for Chief Minister Harish Rawat after the change of leadership in the government. In the year 2015, Mamta Rakesh of Congress had also won in the by-election of Bhagwanpur seat. This seat fell vacant due to the death of the then minister Surendra Rakesh.
In the election of the fourth assembly, the public handed over a huge majority to the BJP. Then in the year 2018, Munni Devi Shah of BJP was victorious in the by-election of Tharali seat, in 2019, Chandra Pant on Pithoragarh seat and in the year 2021, Mahesh Singh Jina was victorious in the by-election of Salt seat.
In the elections to the fifth assembly held last year, the people retained power with the BJP, but then Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami himself lost the election. Last year, Champawat MLA Kailash Chand Gahtodi left his seat for the Chief Minister. In this by-election, Chief Minister Dhami won with a record number of votes.
