A bright and pleasant poll-eve day lent a vital ray of hope about a decent turnout of voters at tomorrow’s assembly polls in Uttarakhand. It is another matter, though, that clouds of suspense continue to hang over the hill state’s major political parties about the result of the elections.
Will the BJP retain power? Or will it be a return of the Congress? While the ruling party, according to insiders, is not sure about things going too well in the last leg, the Congress appeared to be in a buoyant mood and has already started making victory claims.
For the BJP, the raging controversy about Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank his alleged corruption has aggravated, as the party top brass has got reports about the former chief minister’s supporters trying to ‘work against’ some of its own candidates from ‘rival’ groups. In fact, Nishank has been warned on the matter, especially after his recent rendezvous with some Congress leaders. Nishank is also in the news after his name re-surfaced in a sex scandal. The Congress is demanding an inquiry in this regard. Tomorrow's elections will decide the fate of a total of 788 candidates, who are vying to enter the 70-member House.
Political observers say the victory margin is, again, going to be very less this time. It can range between 1 to 3 per cent of votes, according to some of the them. “There may be an under-current against the BJP. But its organisational structure is far better than that of the Congress,” notes an independent observer. “If the Congress takes a lead, it should of very narrow margin.”
Besides the Congress and the BJP, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the BSP are the two big forces that are trying to play a key role in future government formation.
With the hustle and bustle of the electioneering coming to an end last evening, candidates mostly resorted to door-to-door campaigning on Sunday. A host of them were met people at the doors of their houses, besides in the lanes and by-lanes of this city.
