Uttarakhand Elections 2017: Will Harish Rawat Contesting From 2 Seats Pay Off?

Uttarakhand goes to polls on February 15 in a contest where both the ruling Congress and the BJP will battle for 70 seats. The test will be crucial for the Congress, which has been in power since 2012 but has yet produced only one chief minister who has lasted a full five year term. The last and only chief minister to have lasted a full five year term was ND Tiwari, a Congress chief minister with a term from 2002 to 2007.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat is contesting from two seats - Kichcha and Haridwar Rural.By contesting from two seats, Mr Rawat has become the first state chief minister to be fielded from two assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand, something he claims, is a strategic imperative.

Rajni Rawat, an independent eunuch candidate, goes to file nomination papers on top of a horse in Dehradun. She is fighting as an Independent candidate from Raipur and Dharmapur constituencies.
BJP candidate Yashpal Arya seen addressing the public. Mr Arya switched over from the Congress just before the elections. He was a minister in the Harish Rawat government. (Image credit: YashPal Arya Bjp)
Union Health Minister JP Nadda with party leader Shyam Jaju launching the party's new mobile app BJP Uttarakhand in Dehradun.

Chief Minister Harish Rawat recently released a nine-point vision document for Uttarakhand. The chief minister has announced several schemes in his vision document like free smartphones along with one-years' worth of data and calling services for all youth voters. There was also talk of creating an unemployment allowance of Rs. 2,500. Mr Rawat said that by 2020, his government will strive to ensure that at least one person in every household gets a government job.