Spread over five out of 13 districts of Uttarakhand, Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency is a predominately mountainous region having unique geographical, cultural and historical significance. The constituency is bounded by Almora (SC) Lok Sabha seat in east, Nainital- Udham Singh LS constituency in south east, Tehri LS constituency in west and Haridwar LS seat in south west. It also shares international border with China in Chamoli district and is attached to the western Uttar Pradesh as well. It comprises of six Assembly constituencies ( Yamkeshwar, Kotdwar, Lansdowne, Chaubattakhal, Pauri and Srinagar) of Pauri district, Narendra Nagar and Devprayag Assembly segments of Tehri district, Rudraprayag and Kedarnath Assembly segments of Rudraprayag district, Tharali, Badrinath and Karnprayag Assembly constituencies of Chamoli and Ramnagar Assembly segment of Nainital district.
In terms of the caste equations, the area is dominated by the Rajput community which constitutes about 50 per cent of the electorate; Brahmins are about 25 per cent while 20 per cent of the population is of Dalits.
The constituency has been represented by prominent leaders such as Bhaktdarshan Singh ( 1952, 1957 1962 and 1967), Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna ( 1980 and 1982), Major General ( retd) B C Khanduri ( 1991, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014) and Satpal Maharaj ( 1996 and 2009) in past.
Bhaktdarshan Singh represented the constituency four times in a row and from 1963 to 1971. He was a minister in the cabinets of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. In the elections of 1971, Indira Gandhi wanted him to contest again from his Garhwal seat but he refused the offer and retired from active politics at an age of 59 years. After retiring from politics he became the Vice Chancellor of Kanpur University.
Congress stalwart and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna also contested and won from Garhwal in 1980 but due to differences with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he resigned from Congress and Garhwal LS constituency. The by- election which followed is still remembered as one of the most keenly contested electoral battles of the country. In this by-election- which was made an issue of prestige by Indira Gandhi- Bahuguna contested as an independent candidate and defeated Congress candidate Chandra Mohan Singh Negi.
After the creation of Uttarakhand, Garhwal became a stronghold of BJP with its candidates Khanduri, TPS Rawat ( by -election of 2008) and Tirath Singh Rawat ( 2019) emerging victorious from here. The winning streak of BJP was broken only in 2009 when Satpal Maharaj won on a Congress ticket from here.
In the last LS elections held in 2019, the BJP candidate Tirath Singh Rawat received 5,06,980 votes and he defeated the Congress candidate Manish Khanduri by a margin of 3,02,669 votes. In this election, the BJP secured a whopping 68.25 per cent of the total votes while the Congress could obtain only 27.51 per cent votes.
In the ensuing LS elections, the ruling BJP has fielded its national spokesperson and former Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni from here. He is pitted against Ganesh Godiyal of the Congress party. In the election Baluni is banking on Modi magic and Hindutva plank to sail through the electoral battle. The ongoing Rishikesh- Karnprayag rail line project, the all weather road, the development of Char Dhams and increase in air connectivity in Uttarakhand are some of the achievements which BJP is listing in its favour. Godiyal on the other hand is raking up the Ankita Bhandari murder case and justice for her parents. He is also listing Agnipath as the scheme of the Modi government which has snatched employment opportunities from the youth. Godiyal is also trying to project Baluni as an outsider. The Congress candidate is receiving a warm response from the people which has made the ruling BJP alert. To ensure its victory in Garhwal the BJP has inducted many leaders from Congress party which include prominent leaders such Manish Khanduri, Rajendra Singh Bhandari and Shailendra Rawat. The defection of these leaders is likely to affect the outcome in the electoral battle of Garhwal.
