Uttarakhand polls: For Yamkeshwar seat, it is dynasty versus party hopper

Yamkeshwar: Yamkeshwar Assembly constituency in Pauri district is witnessing an interesting contest between dynasty and a party hopper. Ritu Khanduri the daughter of former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Maj. Gen. B.C. Khanduri is contesting on a BJP ticket.

Besides being the former Chief Minister of the state her father is also the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal in which Yamkeshwar falls. But the contest is certainly not one sided, she is facing stiff competition from the Congress candidate and the independents.

Since the inception of Uttarakhand this seat has always been won by the BJP. In the 2017 election the BJP denied its sitting MLA Vijaya Barthwal a ticket but instead gave it to Ritu.

This caused a major rebellion in the ranks and Vijaya went ahead and filed her nomination as an independent candidate. Senior leadership of the BJP intervened and eventually persuaded Vijaya to withdraw her nomination and throw her weight behind Ritu.

Vijaya Barthwal has been an MLA from this seat since 2002 and has been a minister in the state. Officially Vijaya is not contesting but insiders feel she is neither campaigning effectively for the BJP candidate.

Sensing an opportunity in the Congress dropped its 2012 candidate Renu Bisht and gave the ticket to a BJP rebel Shailendra Singh Rawat. Though Shailendra hails from the neighbouring constituency of Kotdwar, he has sizeable influence in Yamkeshwar too. Shailendra was upset with BJP as he was once again denied a ticket.