Harish Rawat likely to fight Uttarakhand elections; says 'party will take final call'

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat is likely to contest the assembly elections in the state scheduled to be held next month. Speaking to Republic, the 73-year-old said that he has kept few options in front of the party that will ultimately decide his fate.

When asked if he is fighting assembly polls, Rawat said, "I am like a pendulum. I have a few options. I have kept them in front of the party. The final call will be taken by the party."

Congress Screening Committee reviewed candidates for 50 seats in its 10-hour meeting on Thursday. The final call will be taken by Congress' Central Screening Committee (CEC) on Saturday.

"We discussed everything. Everybody is meritorious, but the discussion is on who is more. We have discussed almost all the names. A little finishing touch to be done. Tomorrow we will show the names in front of the CEC on most of the seats. We have kept a single name but in a few just to keep options we have given one or two more. It is now their job to see," he said.

The screening committee for Uttarakhand is headed by Avinash Pandey and the members include state's party chief Ganesh Godiyal, AICC Uttarakhand in-charge Devendra Yadav, Congress Legislature Party leader Pritam Singh and former CM Harsh Rawat among others

Uttarakhand polls

The elections in the hill state will take place in a single phase on February 14. The votes will be counted on March 10. 

In the 2017 polls, Harish Rawat-led Congress lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The saffron party won 57 seats in the 70-member House while the grand old party managed only 11 seats and other parties got the remaining two seats. Following the victory, Trivendra Singh Rawat was named the Chief Minister- a post which he held until March 9, 2021. He was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat, whose tenure at the top post was short-lived and was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami.