Former Uttarakhand chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat lost Lalkuwa after a stiff fight from BJP’s Mohan Bisht in the state assembly elections 2022. Rawat, with a five-decade career, lost by over 14,000 votes to Bisht.
72-year-old Rawat was initially named the Congress candidate from Ramnagar, but he shifted to Lalkuwa even though the party had nominated Sandhya Dalakoti. Sandhya had then gone on to contest as an independent. Incidentally, BJP too had replaced Navin Chandra Dumka with Mohan Bisht in Lalkuwa.
It was a do-or-die battle for Harish Rawat in Lalkuwa, who is the front-runner for the CM’s post should Congress form government in Uttarakhand. Rawat had contested from the Haridwar Rural and Kichha seats in 2017 but lost both. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Ajay Bhatt won from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar Lok Sabha (MP) Seat with the margin of 3,39,096 votes by defeating Rawat.
A veteran leader of the grand old party, Rawat's losing streak continued in this election as well.
Giving the Lalkuwa constituency to Bisht, the BJP was pinning hopes on his popularity. Known for attending cremations of anyone who passes away in the area, Bisht had developed a lot of popularity and even earned the nickname ‘Shamshan Bandhu’, which means ‘funeral friend’.
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