Tirath Singh Rawat vs Col Ajay Kothiyal: Retired AAP colonel Ajay Kothiyal will contest against- In Uttarakhand, CM Tirath Singh Rawat is required to be a member of the Legislative Assembly to continue in office. Now in such a situation, it is decided that he will contest on one of the two vacant seats in the state. There are speculations that he may contest the by-election from Gangotri. Aam Aadmi Party has fielded retired Colonel Ajay Kothiyal on this seat and has also challenged Tirath Singh Rawat to contest from here.
CM Tirath Singh Rawat is not a member of the assembly yet and he has to become a member of the assembly before September 10 to continue as the CM. There are currently two vacant seats in Uttarakhand. One is Gangotri seat which is in Garhwal and the other is Haldwani, which is in Kumaon.
Tirath can contest from Gangotri
According to a BJP leader, the CM can contest from Gangotri. Efforts are also being made to make that seat safe for CM. BJP is also in talks with some Congress leaders there. According to sources, it was also discussed in the meeting that the posts which are vacant in different boards should be filled. As soon as the new CM came, many people close to the old CM Trivendra Singh Rawat had become without a post.
However, AAP has fielded retired Colonel Ajay Kothiyal from here. The party has challenged Tirath Singh Rawat to contest against the retired colonel from the same seat.
Congress also raised political mercury
Here, ahead of the possible by-election in Gangotri seat, former Congress MLA Vijay Pal Sajwan has raised the political mercury by giving his support to the pilgrimage priests who are opposing the Chardham Devasthanam Board. In view of the strong possibility of Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat entering the Gangotri by-election, this move of Sajwan is being considered as a sign of his entering the electoral arena. Congress sources believe that the party is likely to field Sajwan candidate from Gangotri seat.
Seat vacant due to death of BJP MLA
Gopal Singh Rawat of BJP defeated Congress MLA Sajwan by 9,610 votes from Gangotri seat in the last assembly elections. But the seat fell vacant after Rawat’s death on April 22 this year after a long battle with cancer. Whereas Congress MLA from Haldwani Indira Hridayesh died on June 13.
