The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 59 candidates for the polls to the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly, with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to contest from his current constituency Khatima. Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the list has five women and asserted that the party will fight the polls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for Uttarakhand and also the work of its state government.

The party, which had won 57 seats in 2017, has dropped around 10 sitting MLAs. State BJP president Madan Kaushik will again contest from Haridwar, while names of ministers like Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat are also on the list. Fifteen candidates are Brahmins and three from the trading community, Joshi noted.

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Joshi and BJP general secretary Arun Singh said the party will win again with a big mandate and claimed that the state saw development under its rule after facing "step-motherly" treatment during the Congress-led UPA dispensation of 10 years. Rail tracks were led in the state, Char Dham infrastructure developed and over Rs 10,000 crore spent on building roads outside the 'PM Gramin Sadak Yojna", Joshi said about the work undertaken in the last five years. Assembly polls will be held in the state on February 14.

First Published:Jan 20, 2022 4:00 PM IST