The BJP top brass is busy adjusting and accommodating its candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls as some of its heavyweight leaders in the state, including chief minister B.C. Khanduri and his predecessor Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, are scouting for new constituencies. These Assembly polls, first in the state post delimitation exercise, have altered the electoral combination in some of the prominent constituencies, leaving sitting candidates to now search for favourable seats. The BJP has 34 members out of the total 70-member Assembly in the state. Sources disclosed that the BJP is all set to give ticket to most of its sitting MLAs. One of the main reasons for this is to keep a check on dissidence, a problem that the BJP’s Uttarakhand unit is battling against.
Party sources said that while Mr Khanduri is interested to contest from Kotdwar Assembly berth instead of his current constituency Dhumakot, former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank wants to contest from Doiwala. Both Kotdwar and Doiwala are currently with the BJP. If the BJP top brass decides to give Mr Khanduri and his predecessor their desired constituency, they will then have to accommodate the sitting MLAs, who in this case are senior leaders and one of them a Cabinet minister. Other prominent leaders of the party are also scouting for new constituencies.