Gagretbyelection: Turncoats locked in keen contest

Rajesh Sharma

Una, May 27

Despite extreme heat, with temperature hovering above 43°C during the day, campaigning for the byelection to the Gagret Assembly constituency is in full swing as the BJP and the Congress toil to wrest the seat. With just three days left for campaigning, last-minute parleys to woo the electorate are underway.

Congress candidate Rakesh Kalia had represented Gagret earlier from 2013 to 2017 but he he lost to Rajesh Thakur of the BJP in the 2017 elections. In 2022, after the Congress denied him ticket, Kalia resigned from the party and joined the BJP. He even campaigned against Congress candidate Chaitanya Sharma.

Candidates

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• Rakesh Kalia (Cong)
• Chaitanya Sharma (BJP)
• Amit Vashisht (Independent)
• Ashok Sonkhala (Independent)
• ML Sharma (Independent)

Key stats

Total voters: 82,884

Male: 41,953

Female: 40,931

Chaitanya, who is one of the six Congress rebels to have voted against the party candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, is this time the BJP candidate for the Gagret byelection. Sensing an opportunity, Rakesh Kalia mended fences with the Congress and secured the party ticket to fight the byelection.

Chaitanya and Kalia both own immovable assets above Rs 10 crore. While Kalia is a BA, Chaitanya is a law graduate.

Son of a former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Chaitanya was a social activist and used to help the needy in Gagret from his own money. He would pay for ambulance charges, medicines and the marriage of a daughter. Consequently, in the last elections to the panchayati raj institutions in 2020, he was elected a Zila Parishad member.

In 2022, he contested the Assembly poll from Gagret and won but locals say after the poll victory his attitude changed and he abruptly stopped charity work for which he was liked. In his campaign he is blaming Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for ignoring the development of Gagret.

Kalia is busy in mobilising people for Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi’s public meeting at Gagret tomorrow.