The Congress on Saturday released its first list of 53 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.
Ganesh Godiyal, State Congress president, will contest from the Srinagar seat while Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Pritam Singh has been fielded from the Chakrata (ST) constituency.
Also read: Goa elections: Ex-CM Laxmikant Parsekar quits BJP, will contest as independent
The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly elections will be held on February 14 to elect 70 members of the State Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on March 10. The Congress is seeking to wrest power back from the BJP in the hill state.
Yashpal Arya, a former BJP minister who had recently joined the Congress, has been fielded from his Bajpur (SC) constituency.
Sumit Hridayesh, the son of senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh who died in June last year, has been fielded from Haldwani assembly seat.
Also read: Goa elections 2022: TMC announces second list of candidates, check full list
The names of former chief minister Harish Rawat and Harak Singh Rawat, who joined the party only on Friday, do not figure in the first list of the party.
While Harak Singh Rawat, a prominent leader from the Garhwal rejoined the party on Friday, Arya, a major SC leader from Kumaon division returned to the party along with his MLA son Sanjeev in October last year.
Also read: Manipur Assembly elections 2022: ECI approves postal ballots for militants in ‘designated camps’
Both Rawat and Arya are experienced leaders whose re-entry into the Congress comes as a major boost for the party ahead of the comping assembly polls.
Rawat has never lost in any of the four assembly polls held in Uttarakhand since its creation in 2000 although he contested from four different seats.
He has also held ministerial positions in both undivided Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Yashpal Arya who held key positions like that of the state assembly speaker, Pradesh Congress president and a minister under the chief ministership of both Vijay Bahuguna and Harish Rawat is capable of playing a decisive role for the party on 12 SC seats in the state as he is seen as the tallest Dalit leader in the state.
