Dehradun, Oct 28 (PTI) Uttarakhand BJP Mahila Morcha president Asha Nautiyal and Congress' Manoj Rawat on Monday filed their nominations for the November 20 bypoll to the Kedarnath Assembly seat in the state.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Pauri MP Anil Baluni accompanied Nautiyal to the returning officer's office in Ukhimath where she filed her nomination in the afternoon.
The Kedarnath seat, which fell vacant after the untimely death of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat in July this year, is an assembly segment under the Pauri Lok Sabha constituency held by Baluni.
Congress Rawat filed his nomination in the presence of state Congress president Karan Mahara, his predecessor Ganesh Godiyal and many other party leaders.
Both Nautiyal and Rawat, whose candidature was announced on Sunday for the bypoll to the seat, have represented the seat in the state assembly in the past.
Nautiyal won it in two successive assembly polls in 2002 and 2007 whereas Rawat won it in 2017 as a poll debutante defeating Shaila Rani Rawat. However, he lost it to her in 2022.
Both BJP and Congress look confident about their victory from the seat.
"Not only the people of Kedarnath constituency but devotees from all over the country and abroad have seen the reconstruction work being carried out in Kedarnath for the last 10 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People are getting the benefits of a double engine government and I am confident that the BJP will get their blessings once again," Nautiyal said soon after filing her nominations.
Former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal claimed that the people of Kedarnath were disappointed with the state government.
"The constituency has been neglected. People are disappointed. It is an opportunity for them to send a strong MLA to the state assembly who can fight for them," Godiyal said.