Uttarakhand Congress again chanted that they will be implementing ‘one family-one ticket’ rule for ticket distribution in state assembly polls. The announcement came one day after senior Congress leader Yashpal Arya joined BJP with his son Sanjeev. Turncoat father and son managed to get BJP tickets from the desired assembly seats.Congress is yet to declare its candidate list for Uttarakhand assembly polls. 

The ‘one-family, one ticket’ rule is likely to hit Chief Minister Harish Rawat the most as three members of his family were looking at the Uttarakhand assembly elections with high hopes. CM’s sons Virendra, Anand and daughter Anupama are active in different assembly seats. Will the Congress muster the courage to anger Rawat family members? 

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The ‘one-family, one-ticket’ announcement was made by state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay in a joint press conference with Chief Minister Rawat in Dehradun on Tuesday. But, he also claimed that winning candidates will not be ignored.  

Hurt by the move of Yashpal Arya, Chief Minister Harish Rawat lashed BJP for ignoring Modi’s appeal not to promote family politics in ticket distribution. 

Harish Rawat said, “BJP used to allege that in Vijay Bahuguna rule corruption had increased multiple times. Now Bahuguna is acting as mentor of BJP. The BJP list is dominated by tickets to different family members. The party failed to implement Narendra Modi’s suggestion, who asked not to promote family politics in the candidate list.”  

The BJP announced its first list, consisting of 64 names, for the Uttarakhand Assembly election on Monday. The name of Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj-General (Retd.) B.C Khanduri found a place in the list. Two members of Arya family are there.Ex-Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna managed to get ticket for his son Saurav and former-cabinet minister Matbar Singh Kandari for his son Vinod Kandari.

The list does not end here as BJP is to announce the second list soon. BJP spokesperson Munna Singh Chauhan and his wife Madhu Chauhan are expecting their name in the new list. Former Congress M.P Satpal Maharaj has got BJP symbol, but his wife Amrita Rawat is likely to figure in the next list.  

By hitting BJP for promoting family politics, Harish Rawat has possibly closed option of fielding his own family members this time. The political development too provides little room for Rawat to take the risk.