Preparation underway for voting during the first phase of Goa Assembly polls, in Goa. PTI Photo)
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, February 13
The stage is set for single-phase elections in Uttarakhand and Goa and the second phase polling in UP on Monday with voters to decide the fate of several stalwarts as the ruling BJP defends its term in all three states.
In the high-stakes battle, the Congress, reduced to power in Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan on its own, would fight for electoral revival. AAP will be testing waters as the third force in Goa and Uttarakhand as it seeks to expand its presence beyond Delhi. The TMC has entered the Goa fray in alliance with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and is backing the Opposition SP-RLD alliance against the BJP in UP, where Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is also a player this time apart from former CM Mayawati-led BSP.
Elections will be held from 8 am to 6 pm for 70 Assembly segments in Uttarakhand and 40 in Goa. For 55 constituencies of the nine UP districts going to the polls tomorrow, voting will take place between 7 am and 6 pm. Of the 55 segments that poll tomorrow, BJP holds 38, SP 15 and Congress two. Retaining these seats would be key to BJP’s calculations of coming back to power in the state, where PM Narendra Modi has personally led the party’s campaign along with Home Minister Amit Shah.
Leading politicians whose fate will be sealed tomorrow in UP include former minister Dharam Singh Saini who recently defected to SP from the BJP; ex-minister and Lok Sabha member Azam Khan; Azam’s son Abdullah Azam who is pitted against NDA’s only Muslim candidate Haider Ali Khan in Swar.
In Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP and the Congress are in a direct fight, with AAP queering the pitch.
The fates of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, former CM Harish Rawat, outgoing ministers Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Dhan Singh Rawat and Rekha Arya, Uttarakhand BJP president Madan Kaushik, ex-minister Yashpal Arya (now with Congress), Congress state chief Ganesh Godiyal and Leader of Opposition Pritam Singh, will be sealed tomorrow.
Traditionally, Uttarakhand has never voted back an incumbent ever since its creation in 2000. Tomorrow will be the fifth election for the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly where the BJP won 57 seats against the Congress’ 11 in 2017.
In Goa, Congress is fighting to defeat the incumbent BJP with CM Pramod Sawant, deputy CMs Manohar Ajgaonkar and Chandrakant Kavlekar, Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, former CMs Ravi Naik, former deputy CMs Laxmikant Parsekar and Vijai Sardesai; outgoing minister Vishwajeet Rane; late Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar and AAP’s CM candidate Amit Paleker in the fray.
The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the state in 2017 with 17 MLAs. A spree of defections towards the BJP steered the saffron alliance to government formation in the state, leaving the Congress with just two MLAs currently.
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