By-elections to two of the state assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand, Badrinath, and Manglaur, have become a litmus test for the Pushkar Singh Dhami Government without Modi being in the forefront.

The ruling BJP lost both assembly seats in the 2022 state polls.

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In the by-polls scheduled to be held on July 10, the BJP and Congress are in direct fight in both constituencies. Political pandits in Uttarakhand claim the elections are going to be big challenge for the Dhami Government after the Lok Sabha elections in which the saffron party failed to stand up to its expectations.

What’s more, the by-elections are being held without Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the forefront. In the absence of the charismatic leadership of Modi, the BJP is contesting the elections on the performance of the Dhami Government.

As for Manglaur, the BJP has never won an election from the assembly constituency in the electoral history state. Not even when the party had a clean sweep in 2017 assembly polls winning 57 of the 70 seats.

In the 2022 assembly polls, the BJP which could not win even the Badrinath assembly seat, lost the election to Rajendra Bhandari who fought the election on a Congress ticket. He, however, left the Congress just before the recently concluded parliamentary elections and joined the BJP.

The seat is lying vacant after Bhandari resigned as MLA from Badrinath. Now, he is contesting the Badrinath by-polls from the BJP against low-profile Congress candidate Lakhpat Butola.

“Both the seats pose a big challenge for Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami as by-election results will reflect the performance of his governance. Also, Bhandari’s defection had not gone down well with the voters in Bardinath forcing him to extend tender an apology. However, it is also true that by-election results often go in favour of the ruling party,” said Dehradun-based political commentator and senior journalist Jai Singh Rawat.

On the other hand, the BJP has never won the Manglaur assembly constituency in Haridwar ever since the first assembly elections were held in 2002. It has so far been held either by the BSP or the Congress party. In 2002 and 2007, Muhammad Nizamuddin won the seat on a BSP ticket while in 2012 the BSP changed its candidate and fielded Sarvat Karim Ansari who won the seat with a good margin. However, in 2017, Muhammad Nizamuddin won the seat on a Congress ticket but Ansari wrested the seat back from Nizamuddin in 2022.

The Manglaur assembly seat fell vacant due to Ansari’s passing away this year. Although the BSP fielded its candidate, the main battle in this by-election is between BJP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana and Muhammad Nizamuddin of the Congress party. Bhadan had been MLA in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the past.

“We will win Badrinath easily adding one more seat to our list in the assembly. Manglaur though had been a difficult seat for the BJP, we hope to break that record this time. the state government has taken several popular decisions in the past two years, including the creation of an investor-friendly environment in Haridwar and other industrial areas of the state. This will go in our favour,” said BJP Spokesperson Manbir Singh Chouhan.