Uttarakhand election result: Mixed bag for daughters & sons

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, March 10

It was a mixed bag for sons and daughters contesting in Uttarakhand even as the polls signaled a terminal political decline of multi-term former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who like former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh failed to win his seat.

Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former BJP CM Bhuwan Chand Khanduri, won for the second time, this time from Kotdwar. She defeated Congress’ SS Negi. To further rub salt into Congress’ wounds, a local party leader Renu Bisht, who had crossed over to the BJP, won the Yamkeshwar seat vacated by Ritu.

The BJP’s choice of Renu Khanduri in place of Harak Singh Rawat in Kotdwar, who had crossed over to the Congress, paid off. But Harak Singh’s gambit of fielding his daughter-in-law on the Congress ticket from Landsdown went askew. Her daughter-in-law, Anukriti Gusain Rawat, was not even in the contest as the BJP winner picking up nearly 60 per cent of the vote in one of the most emphatic wins in percentage terms in the Uttarakhand elections.

However, there was a surprise winner in Harish Rawat’s daughter Anupama from Haridwar (Rural). She was up against two-term sitting MLA and Minister of State Yateeshwaranand who had defeated her father in 2017. Anupama’s win was because of the collapse of the BSP vote and its shift in her favour.

In the plains, Sitargunj reposed its fate for the second time in Saurabh Bahuguna, son of former Congress CM and now BJP leader Vijay Bahuguna. Saurabh’s win was not as resounding as in 2017 when his father had just crossed over to the BJP with eight MLAs to topple Harish Rawat’s government in 2016.

The win this time for Vijay Bahuguna was hard fought and he got 8,000 votes less than last time.

Win some, lose some

• Ritu Khanduri, daughter of BJP ex-CM Bhuwan Chand Khanduri, won for the second time, this time from Kotdwar
• Harak Singh Rawat’s daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain Rawat lost from Lansdowne by a margin of 9,868 votes
• Harish Rawat’s daughter Anupama won from Haridwar (Rural)