Summary:
New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday released its first list of 53 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.
Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal will contest from the Srinagar seat while Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Pritam Singh has been fielded from the Chakrata (ST) constituency.
The names of former chief minister Harish Rawat and Harak Singh Rawat, who joined the party only on Friday, do not figure in the first list of the party.
Yashpal Arya, a former BJP minister who had recently joined the Congress, has been fielded from his Bajpur (SC) constituency.
Sumit Hridayesh, the son of senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh who died in June last year, has been fielded from Haldwani assembly seat.
The Congress is seeking to wrest power back from the BJP in the hill state.