BJP Names Candidates for Remaining Uttarakhand LS Seats: Trivendra Singh Rawat, Anil Baluni On List

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced its candidates for the two remaining parliamentary seats in Uttarakhand— Haridwar and Garhwal (Pauri) — as part of its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has been selected to contest from the Haridwar constituency, while former Rajya Sabha MP and the party’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni will vie for the Garhwal (Pauri) seat. This announcement marks a transition as they replace two former chief ministers — Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Tirath Singh Rawat — who currently represent Haridwar and Garhwal (Pauri) seats in the Lok Sabha.

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, a former chief minister, had secured victories from the Haridwar constituency in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, Tirath Singh Rawat, who made his parliamentary debut from Garhwal (Pauri) in 2019, had a brief tenure as chief minister before being succeeded by Pushkar Singh Dhami in 2021, just months ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.=

The BJP's decision to field Trivendra Singh Rawat and Anil Baluni underscores the party's strategy to bring fresh leadership to these constituencies while ensuring continuity and stability.

Earlier, the BJP had announced candidates for three other Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand — Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar, Tehri Garhwal, and the lone reserved (SC) seat of Almora. The party reposed its faith in its sitting MPs — Union Minister of State for Defence and Tourism Ajay Bhatt, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, and former Union minister Ajay Tamta, respectively.