- Sunday, February 23, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 57 legislators in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand were scheduled to choose a new leader on Saturday (3) to become the 10th chief minister of the 21-year-old state. The hilly state saw dramatic turn of events late on Friday (2) when incumbent chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat resigned from his post only four months after taking charge, amid infighting in the BJP’s state unit. Rawat succeeded Trivendra Singh Rawat in March.
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Uttarakhand BJP chief Madan Kaushik said, “In the legislature meet at 3 pm, we will elect the leader. Post that, we will meet the Governor for government formation. It’s possible that the chief minister will be from among the MLAs.”
The meeting is set to be attended by the saffron part’s central observer Narendra Singh Tomar, who arrived in state capital Dehradun around Saturday noon, and its state-in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam. Tomar has already held several meetings, including with Rawat and other leaders of the state BJP.
Several names doing rounds for CM post
Nearly half-a-dozen names are already doing the rounds as the probable chief minister, including the likes of state ministers Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat and Pushkar Singh Dhami, reports said. Even the name of Trivendra Singh Rawat, who led the government for four years after the party won the 2017 state elections, is not being overlooked.
“A constitutional crisis has emerged in Uttarakhand because there is less than a year for the next election. Will the Election Commission give permission to hold a bye-poll? While it has the mandate to hold an election, there have been instances where it denied permission,” Trivendra Singh Rawat told Indian news channel NDTV.
“The Election Commission has given in writing that it cannot hold elections amid the Covid pandemic in certain states,” he said.
Uttarakhand goes to the assembly elections along with its neighbours Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh next year.
Tirath Singh Rawat was sworn in as the chief minister in March after strong dissent came to the fore against the predecessor. However, under the law, he needed to win a seat in the assembly to become one of its members within six months.
‘Holding by-poll in pandemic times would be tough’
Holding a by-poll would be tough for the election commission after a massive controversy that erupted over holding elections in five states in times of the pandemic. “There are many by-elections due. The Covid situation is a major consideration,” the panel has said recently.
Rawat, who had been in Delhi for the past three days meeting the BJP’s top leadership, was asked to step down on Friday afternoon. Soon after, she sought an appointment with state governor Baby Rani Maurya but handed over his resignation to party chief J P Nadda.
“Given the constitutional crisis, I felt it was right for me to resign. Bye-polls could not be held because of Covid-19,” the departing chief minister, who had a controversy-packed stint, said in a statement on Friday.
