For cabinet minister Bishan Singh Chupal, retaining the Didihat seat in Pithoragarh district is crucial. Chupal, who is seeking a sixth straight term from Didihat is facing strong anti-incumbency, which might come in his way of retaining Didihat for BJP.
In the 2017 assembly election, Chupal had won the election with a thin margin against an independent candidate, while Congress was at the third position. However this time, Congress is hoping to win the seat. Former chief minister Harish Rawat claimed Congress would break the jinx with winning Didihat.
In the Pithoragarh seat, Congress seems to have an edge over sitting BJP MLA Chandra Pant. In the initial round of counting of votes for the postal ballots, Congress candidate Mayukh Mahar was leading from his nearest BJP rival.
Chandra Pant is the wife of the late Prakash Pant, who was a prominent minister in the BJP government. Chandra Pant had won in a by-election after her husband died of cancer.
There are four assembly seats in the district – Pithoragarh, Didihat, Dharchula, and Gangolihat. In 2017 polls, BJP had won three out of four seats. Interestingly, no party has even won for a straight term here. This is the reason why Congress is hopeful of winning the Pithoragarh seat.
Similarly, the Dharchula seat remained a strong fort for Congress. MLA Harish Dhami from Congress is contesting again from Dharchula. It is speculated that Congress has a better chance of winning this seat.
In Gangolihat (SC) reserved seat, a straight fight is visible between Congress candidate Khajan ‘Guddu’ and BJP’s Fakeer Ram. In this seat, Congress faced a big setback after one of its senior leaders and former MLA Narayan Ram Arya switched over to BJP, just days ahead of the polls. Congress insiders believe this could hurt party prospects.
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