Uttarakhand to go to polls on April 11

Uttarakhand poll officials, here Sunday, reviewed the preparedness for the Lok Sabha elections after the Election Commission announced that polling for all the five seats will be held on April 11 in the first phase.

Top officials of the State Election Commission after a meeting to review the arrangements for the elections, said they were ready for polls. "We are fully prepared for the elections," said Sowjanya, State Chief Electoral Officer.

In 2014, the BJP had won all the five seats in the state in the Narendra Modi wave, avenging the humiliation of losing all seats to the Congress in 2009.

The fight is between the BJP and the Congress in the state.

The BJP is likely to repeat all the four MPs from Tehri, Haridwar, Nainital and Pithorgarh constituencies. The suspense is over the Pauri seat where the sitting MP and former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has expressed his inability to contest the election due to health issues.

"We will win all the five seats again," said state BJP President Ajay Bhatt. The names of all candidates would be declared shortly, he added.

Pritam Singh, state Congress chief, said, "We will shortly announce the names," and added the party would repeat the performance of 2009 elections when it had won all the five seats in the state.

--IANS

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