Pauri Garhwal (Incumbent: Tirath Singh Rawat of BJP)
The BJP's Anil Baluni is leading by over 96,671 while Ganesh Godiyal of Indian National Congress is trailing in the Pauri Garhwal segment.
The BJP replaced its candidate in Pauri Garhwal and fielded Anil Baluni in place of Tirath Singh Rawat. The Congress fielded former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal from the seat. Baluni is the national media in-charge and former Rajya Sabha MP. He is considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national president JP Nadda, and even PM Modi did rallies for Baluni. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Smriti Irani along with General VK Singh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami have also held public meetings in Pauri Garhwal.
As for Godiyal, he has been former Congress president in the state and Badri Kedar Temple Committee Chairman. Godiyal aggressively campaigned and said the contest in Pauri Garhwal was between an insider (himself) and outsider (Baluni). His poll meetings also drew large crowds.
2024 polls: The total number of registered voters in this constituency in 2024 polls was 1369388, and the seat saw a voting turnout of 52.42% (717834 total count of votes), according to the Election Commission’s data. The seat went to polls in phase 1 on April 19, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls, Tirath Singh Rawat of BJP won from Garhwal, getting 506,980 votes, comprising 68.25% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated Manish Khanduri of INC by a margin of 302669 votes. In 2014, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri had won from this seat, polling 405,690 votes (59.48%) and defeating Harak Singh Rawat of Congress by a margin of 1,84,526 votes.
