Uttarakhand polls: In BJP's first list, 7 rebels who felled Harish Rawat govt

The BJP Monday declared its first set of 64 candidates for the Uttarakhand assembly election. The 70-member assembly goes to polls on 15 February. Interestingly, 12 former Congress leaders have been allotted tickets by the saffron party. They include seven of the nine rebels who tried to topple the Harish Rawat government last March.

Two Congress rebels - Vijay Bahuguna and Amrita Rawat - did not feature in the list announced by Union Minister JP Nadda at the BJP headquarters in Delhi. Bahuguna's son has been fielded from Sitarganj.

Earlier in the day, the BJP received a shot in the arm after Congress minister Yashpal Arya joined it along with his son Sanjeev Arya in the presence of the Amit Shah and other senior leaders. As expected, the father-son duo feature in the list of candidates announced by Nadda.

Also Read: Uttarakhand HC blasts Centre for chaos, Harish Rawat calls it setback for BJP

Former Congress heavyweight Satpal Maharaj too has been allotted ticket while his wife, Amrita Rawat, did not make it in the first list. Sources say her name is likely to be announced in the second list. A few more Congressman are likely to switch over to the BJP in the next few days. Another Congress sitting legislator Kedar Singh also joined the BJP with Arya and has been asked to contest on a BJP ticket.

It appears from the list that the BJP central leadership has paid no heed to the party's state leaders, who were against allotting tickets to Congress turncoats. They had argued that BJP leaders could revolt if "outsiders" are chosen over them in their constituencies.

From within its own ranks, the BJP has fielded former chief minister BC Khanduri's daughter Ritu Khanduri Bhushan from Yamkeshwar. There had been reports that Khanduri was not too pleased with the BJP leadership for "ignoring" him and had even skipped key party meetings.

There's no word, however, on former chief minister BS Koshiyari. The BJP veteran has made known his desire to contest the election. Koshiyari is said to be miffed with the central leadership for giving more prominence to turncoats over him.

The Congress, meanwhile, is expected to announce its candidates soon. The party is planning to field strong candidates against the rebels who have gone over to the BJP.

Also Read: After the victory: 10 dos and don'ts for Harish Rawat

In March 2016, the Rawat government was plunged into a crisis after nine sitting Congress legislators switched allegiance to the BJP. The state was put under President's Rule. The Congress went to court and, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ordered Rawat to undergo a floor test, which led to the restoration of his government.

Here's the full list of candidates released by the BJP.

Purola (SC) Malchand, MLA

Yamunotri Kedar Singh Rawat, Ex-MLA

Gangotri Gopal Singh Rawat, Ex-MLA

Badrinath Mahendra Bhatt, Ex-MLA

Tharali (SC) Maganlal Shah

Karnprayag Surendra Singh Negi

Kedarnath Shaila Rani Rawat, MLA

Rudraprayag Bharat Chaudhary

Ghanshali (SC) Shakti Lal Shah

Deoprayag Vinod Kandhari

Narendranagar Subhodh Unial, MLA

Pratapnagar Vijay Singh Panwar, Ex-MLA

Tehri Dhan Singh Negi

Dhanolti Narayan Singh Rana, Ex-MLC

Sahaspur Sahadev Pundir, MLA

Raipur Umesh Sharma "Kau", MLA

Rajpur Road (SC) Khajandas, Ex-MLA

Dehradun Cantt. Harbansh Kapoor, MLA

Mussoorie Ganesh Joshi, MLA

Doiwala Trivendra Singh Rawat, Ex-MLA

Rishikesh Premchandra Aggarwal, MLA

Hardwar Madan Kaushik, MLA

BHEL Ranipur Adesh Chauhan, MLA

Jwalapur (SC) Suresh Rathore

Bhagwanpur (SC) Subodh Rakesh

Jhabrera (SC) Deshraj Karnwal

Pirankaliyar Jaibhagwan Saini

Roorkee Pradeep Batra, MLA

Khanpur Kunwar Pranab Singh Champion, MLA

Manglore Rishipal Baliyan

Laksar Sanjay Gupta, MLA

Hardwar Rural Yatiswaranand, MLA

Yamkeshwar Ritu Khanduri Bhushan

Pauri (SC) Mukesh Koli

Srinagar Dhan Singh Rawat

Chaubattakhal Satpal Maharaj, Ex-MP

Lansdowne Dilip Singh Rawat, MLA

Kotdwar Harak Singh Rawat, MLA

Dharchula Virendra Singh Pal

Didihat Bishan Singh Chufal, MLA

Pithoragarh Prakash Pant, Ex-MLA

Gangolihat (SC) Meena Gangola

Kapkote Balwant Singh Bhoriyal, Ex-MLA

Bageshwar (SC) Chandan Ram Dass, MLA

Dwarahat Mahesh Negi

Salt Surendra Singh Jeena, MLA

Ranikhet Ajay Bhatt, MLA

Someshwar (SC) Rekha Arya, MLA

Almora Raghunath Singh Chauhan, Ex-MLA

Jageshwar Subhash Pandey

Lohaghat Puran Fartiyal, MLA

Champawat Kailash Gehtori

Lalkuwa Naveen Dumaka

Nainital (SC) Sanjeev Arya

Kaladhungi Bansidhar Bhagat, MLA

Jaspur Shailendra Mohan Singhal, MLA

Kashipur Harbhajan Singh Cheema, MLA

Bajpur (SC) Yashpal Arya

Gadarpur Arvind Pandey, MLA

Rudrapur Rajkumar Thukral, MLA

Kichha Rajesh Shukla, MLA

Sitarganj Saurabh Bahuguna

Nanak Matta (ST) Prem Singh Rana, MLA

Khatima Pushkar Singh Dhaami, MLA