Lok Sabha polls: Uttarakhand govt declares public holiday on voting day

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the country, the Uttarakhand government has declared a public holiday on April 19, i.e. the day of voting.

The order was issued by the General Administration Department of the Uttarakhand government on Tuesday.

The order stated that all the educational institutes, banks, all the government and private offices, and all industrial and manufacturing units, etc. will stay closed on April 19.

This step has been taken keeping in mind that all the people use their voting rights and participate readily in the upcoming general elections.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presented a conch to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Vijay Shankhnad rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held in Rudrapur on Tuesday.

PM Modi kick-started BJP's poll campaign in Uttarakhand by addressing a rally in Rudrapur which is part of the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency.

Notably, among the 543 Lok Sabha seats, Uttarakhand contributes just five seats and the BJP has fielded Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Anil Baluni, Ajay Tamta, Ajay Bhatt, and Trivendra Singh Rawat for these seats.

The people of Uttarakhand will cast their votes in a single phase on April 19, according to the Election Commission of India.

Uttarakhand has traditionally witnessed a close contest between the BJP and Congress. Both parties see the state as an essential battleground for displaying and gaining supporters for their national narratives.

The BJP had won all the Lok Sabha seats in the elections in both the 2014 and 2019 elections. With 47 out of 70 assembly seats, the BJP dominated in the 2022 assembly polls, while Congress got 19 seats. BSP and Independents hold 2 seats each.