Dehradun, February 9: The voting for the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022 will take place in a single phase on February 14. The votes will be counted on March 10, and on the same day, the results will be declared. Since the formation of the hilly state, the main contest has been between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, this time the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is likely to dent the vote share of the Congress and the BJP.  Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Full Schedule: Voting on February 14, Counting And Results on March 10.

There are a total of 70 assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand. The Congress will be hoping to come back to power by defeating the BJP after five years. Notably, the AAP also exuded confidence in winning the Uttarakhand assembly polls. The AAP is campaigning in the state for the last two years and has reportedly gained some ground in the hilly state. Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022: A Look Back at The Polling, Alliances And Results of 2017 Election Ahead of State Vidhan Sabha Polls.

Here Are Five Key Candidates In The Uttarakhand Assembly Elections:

Pushkar Singh Dhami: The state chief minister is contesting the assembly polls from the Kahtima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar district. The Congress has fielded Bhuwan Chandra Kapri from this seat against Dhami.

Dhan Singh Rawat: Uttarakhand Higher Education Minister and sitting MLA, Dhan Singh Rawat, is contesting from the Srinagar Vidhan Sabha seat against Congress candidate Ganesh Godiyal.

Harish Rawat: Former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat is contesting the assembly election from the Lalkuwa seat. The BJP has given the ticket to Mohan Singh Bisht from this constituency. Earlier, the Congress announced Harish Rawat's name from the Rampur seat but changed his seat to Lalkuan.

Dhan Singh Negi: Negi is contesting the elections from the Tehri Vidhan Sabha seat on the Congress ticket. In 2017, Negi won the elections from the same constituency on the BJP ticket, but in January this he switched to Congress. He will be contesting against expelled Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay, who joined the saffron party on the day when Negi switched to the grand old party.

Col Ajay Kothiyal (Retd): He is the AAP's CM candidate. Col Kothiyal is contesting from the Gangotri assembly constituency. The Congress has fielded Vijaypal Singh Sajwan from this seat, while the BJP has given the ticket to Suresh Chauhan from the Gangotri Vidhan Sabha constituency.

Apart from the above-mentioned candidates, state assembly speaker Premchand Aggarwal from Rishikesh, BJP state president from Hardwar, Anukriti Gusain Rawat of Congress from Landsdowne. Other cabinet ministers contesting the polls include Subodh Uniyal from Narendra Nagar, Ganesh Joshi from Mussoorie, Swami Yatishwaranand from Haridwar (rural).

Last year on March 9, Rawat resigned from the Uttarakhand Chief Minister's post reportedly due to dissent of state BJP leaders against him. After his resignation, Tirath Singh Rawat was appointed as the next CM of the state. However, within four months, he also resigned from the post. Pushkar Singh Dhami was then sworn in as the new Uttarakhand CM.

In the 2017 elections, the BJP bagged 57 seats, while the Congress won 11 seats. Independents remained victorious on two seats. Notably, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) failed to open their accounts in the 2017 Uttarakhand polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 09, 2022 04:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).