Champawat MLA vacates seat for CM Dhami to contest bypoll
RUDRAPUR: BJP MLA Kailash Chandra Gahtori resigned from the Champawat seat on Thursday, paving the way for chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to contest the assembly bypoll from there.Gahtori submitted his resignation to Uttarakhand assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri at her official residence in Dehradun, BJP leaders said.
According to the Constitution, Dhami needs to be a member of the state assembly within six months to continue his tenure as CM.
The resignation of Gahtori has put an on end to speculations about which seat Dhami will contest the by-election from. “I have resigned my Vidhan Sabha membership on Thursday to make way for CM Dhami to contest election from my seat. I left the seat for the holistic development of Champawat. I had already offered my seat to Dhami on the same day when the election results were declared,” said Gahtori.
CM Dhami had lost his election from Khatima in US Nagar, his home turf, to Congress candidate Bhuwan Kapri on March 10. He was defeated by 6,579 votes. Despite Dhami’s defeat, the party high command repeated him as CM of Uttarakhand. The party high command had declared him as CM face in the assembly elections. BJP had won 47 seats out of 70 seats in the assembly elections held on February 14. Karan Mahra, newly appointed state Congress president, “We will contest the election with full spirit to win from Champawat. We will go to the public with issues like unemployment, price hike and corruption.”
Dinesh Pandey, a social activist of Champawat, said, “Champawat has favourable conditions for CM Dhami. People think that if Dhami wins the election, this area will come a VIP constituency and will witness new heights of development.”
Devendra Bhasin, state BJP vice-president, said, “After Gahtori’s resignation, it is clear now that CM Dhami will contest election from Champawat to fulfil the constitutional necessity to remain in the assembly. BJP is going to win with a landslide victory from Champawat and party workers are in high spirit.”
A few days ago, speculations were rife that a Congress MLA can leave his membership in favour of Dhami. Some Congress MLAs were allegedly dissatisfied with the party high command’s decision regarding the appointment of the party’s leader of opposition in the state assembly.
Before leaving for Dehradun, Gahtori held a meeting of party workers at his residence in Banbasa of Champawat district on
Sunday to express his desire about vacating his seat for CM Dhami.
Since then, he was in Dehradun and was meeting with the party’s senior leader to offer his seat for Dhami. State BJP president Madan Kaushik, cabinet ministers Chandan Ram Das, Saurabh Bahuguna and MLA Khajan Das were present when Gahtori handed over his resignation to the Speaker.Soon after Gahtori quit, Khanduri said his resignation has been accepted.After submitting his resignation to the Speaker, Gahtori visited the chief minister’s residence.
Dhami had visited Champawat on April 2. It was his first visit after being repeated as CM. He had hinted at his intention of contesting election from Champawat during an address in Banbasa.
Six newly elected MLAs of the state had offered their seats to Dhami for contesting election. Champawat seat has been considered safe for Dhami because, apart from Ghatori’s offer, there are no political factors like in Khatima such as Punjabi, Tharu tribe, Bengali or Purbiya vote factors. Around 50% of the voters live in plain areas like Tanakpur and Banbasa and the rest in the hill area of the Champawat. Dhami may easily access the voters of the plain area.
Gahtori retained the Champawat seat defeating Congress candidate Hemesh Kharkwal by a margin of 5,304 votes. He got 32,547 votes while Kharkwal bagged 27,243 votes. BJP has won the seat for the second consecutive term. In 2017, Gahtori had defeated Kharkwal by a margin of 17,360 votes.
GAHTORI RETAINED THE CHAMPAWAT SEAT DEFEATING CONGRESS CANDIDATE HEMESH KHARKWAL BY A MARGIN OF 5,304 VOTES