RUDRAPUR: Gearing up for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, several senior leaders from the ruling BJP and opposition Congress have emerged as contenders for the prestigious Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Congress State president, Pritam Singh, has said that a number of applications from party leaders have been received, but the ticket distribution will be decided based on their "winnability". The Lok Sabha polls in the state are scheduled for April 11.According to Congress insiders, four names including that of former chief minister Harish Rawat have been sent to the high command. The others in the list are leader of opposition in the assembly, Indira Hridyesh, former Congress minister Tilak Raj Behar and former Member of Parliament Mahendra Pal Singh."On this Lok Sabha seat, several senior leaders are staking claims as this seat has been a Congress bastion except for the the 2014 Modi wave when Bhagat Singh Koshyari of BJP defeated KC Singh Baba, fielded by Congress, by a margin of 2 lakh 84 thousand votes," said Jitendra Sharma, district president of Congress.However, in a statement to TOI, earlier had claimed that while his party, Congress, will decide whether he will be contesting in the forthcoming elections or not, he was more interested in strengthening the organisation. "If you ask me, I will choose my karmabhoomi that is Assam over an election ticket," Rawat told TOI. Rawat was appointed general secretary of the All India Congress Committee last year and made state-in-charge of Assam.Behar while expressing his desire to contest the Lok Sabha election said, "If given a ticket by the party I will contest the Lok Sabha election. I have applied for the ticket. This time, workers and supporters of the party are demanding ticket for local candidate in view of the district remaining backward owing to the negligent attitude of elected representative Koshyari who came to the district from outside".However, the incumbent BJP is also facing tough time to choose candidate from this seat. While Koshyari has publicly not demanded ticket from the party but his supporters have roped in and claim that he is the winning face. BJP legislator from Khatima, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said, "Koshyari has been the chief minister and as an MP also, he has done significant development of this parliamentary seat. People want him re-elected".The other aspirant from this seat is BJP state president Ajay Bhatt. According to the sources, Bhatt has been vying for the ticket for long and being party's apex worker he can succeed to get the high command's nod.Cabinet minister Yashpal Arya is said to be the other contender for the BJP ticket. Arya has been seven time legislator and had joined BJP in 2017 rebel, before assembly elections. BJP legislator from Kaladhungi, Banshidhar Bhagat, is also in the race.Nevertheless, the political parties are preparing hard to face the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While BJP wants to repeat the clean sweep like 2014, the Congress is all set to use anti-incumbency factor and regain its lost bastion.

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