Contest between Anil Baluni and Ganesh Godiyal on Garhwal Lok Sabha seat
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The election bugle has sounded in the country. The date for Lok Sabha elections has been fixed. Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases. At the same time, voting will be held for all the five Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand in the first phase on April 19. The nomination process for the first phase of elections has also started. Garhwal Lok Sabha seat is one of the five Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttarakhand. All eyes will be on the battle for Pauri Garhwal seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This time, BJP has made Anil Baluni its candidate to score a hat-trick of victory from Garhwal seat, while Congress has made its former state president Ganesh Godiyal its candidate.
The special thing about Pauri Garhwal seat is that despite the dominance of Thakurs, Brahmin faces have been winning from here. Since 1991, a Brahmin candidate has won the Garhwal seat 7 times. This is the biggest seat of the state. BJP has won 6 out of the last 7 parliamentary elections here. In the 2019 general elections, BJP got more than 68 percent votes in Pauri Garhwal. BJP’s Tirath Singh Rawat had won the Garhwal seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but this time BJP has canceled his ticket and fielded Anil Baluni.
Anil Baluni vs Ganesh Godiyal
Baluni was made a Rajya Sabha member in 2019. He is considered close to the BJP leadership. Anil Baluni has been active in politics since his student days. After assuming the responsibility of State General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), he became Vice Chairman of Wildlife Board in Nishank Government and National Spokesperson and National Media Head of BJP. Anil Baluni started his political career at the age of 26. He had prepared to contest from Kotdwar seat in the first assembly elections of Uttarakhand in 2002, but his nomination was rejected. Angered by this, Baluni had reached the court. After this, he contested the by-election from Kotdwar in 2004 on the orders of the Supreme Court. However, he was defeated in this election.
At the same time, Ganesh Godiyal has taken over the command of Congress State President in July 2021. He was removed from the chair after his defeat in the 2022 assembly elections. Godiyal is considered close to former Chief Minister of the state Harish Rawat. Former MLA from Srinagar region Ganesh Godiyal was also a contender for ticket from Garhwal parliamentary seat in the year 2019. Then the party high command had given ticket to Manish Khanduri, son of former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Major General Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, who joined Congress on the occasion of elections.
Garhwal Lok Sabha seat information
Pauri Garhwal is one of the five parliamentary seats in Uttarakhand. This is the largest Lok Sabha seat in the state, covering areas of five districts. The boundaries of Garhwal Lok Sabha seat include Pauri Garhwal district, Chamoli district, Rudraprayag district as well as parts of Nainital and Tehri Garhwal. There are a total of 14 assembly seats in the periphery of Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency – Badrinath, Tharali, Karnaprayag, Kedarnath, Rudraprayag, Devprayag, Narendranagar, Yamkeshwar, Pauri, Srinagar, Chaubattakhal, Lansdowne, Kotdwar and Ramnagar. Of these, 13 are in control of BJP. Only Badrinath assembly of Chamoli is with Congress.
Latest India News