Update:
As predicted by the International Business Times, India, on March 10, Trivendra Singh Rawat is the BJP's pick for the top job in Uttarakhand. He was elected as the Uttarakhand BJP Legislative Party leader at a meeting of party MLAs in Dehradun on Friday. The swearing-in of Rawat and his council will be held in the state capital on Saturday.
Original Story:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be suffering from winner's curse in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Having surprised one and all with its victory in the two states — 312 out of 403 in Uttar Pradesh and 57 out of 70 in Uttarakhand — the party faces a dilemma on who to pick for the top job.
A decision is expected on Friday in Uttarakhand, where the three reported front-runners are Trivendra Singh Rawat (who won from Doiwala constituency), Satpal Maharaj (winner from Chaubattakhal) and Prakash Pant (winner from Pithoragarh). Maharaj is also the richest MLA.
According to the Indian Express, BJP is likely to pick 56-year-old Rawat, a former RSS office-bearer, for the top job.
A formal decision is scheduled to be announced on Friday at around 3 pm after the 57 elected legislators of the party meet. The BJP's central observers, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP general secretary Saroj Pandey will also attend the meeting.
The swearing-in has been fixed for Saturday.
Profile of Uttarakhand MLAs
In its analysis of winning candidates from Uttarakhand, watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that 22 of the Uttarakhand MLAs, or ~31 percent, have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Further, of the top three-rich MLAs, two belong to the BJP (Satpal Maharaj and Rajesh Shukla) while the third is from Congress (Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin).
Maharaj's total assets had declared assets worth Rs 80.25 crore, Shukla Rs 25.97 crore and Nizamuddin Rs 21.30 crore.
In all, 51 MLAs have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, according to the analysis by ADR.
#Uttarakhand: BJP Legislative Party meeting begins at Hotel Pacific, Dehradun. All 57 MLAs present alongwith D Pradhan, JP Nadda &Shyam Jaju pic.twitter.com/u5hVC8wRDV
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 17, 2017
The purported contenders for the CM post include Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State of Communications and Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, MP and UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma. The swearing-in has been scheduled for Sunday (March 19).
Profile of Uttarakhand MLAs
In its analysis of winning candidates from Uttarakhand, watchdog ADR says that 22 of them, or ~31 percent, have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Further, of the top three-rich MLAs, two belong to the BJP (Satpal Maharaj and Rajesh Shukla) while the third is from Congress (Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin). Maharaj's total assets had declared assets worth Rs 80.25 crore, Shukla Rs 25.97 crore and Nizamuddin Rs 21.30 crore.
In all, 51 MLAs have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
About Uttarakhand
The state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh and came into being on November 9, 2000 during the prime minister of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was heading the BJP-led NDA government. The state borders China in the north and Nepal in the east, and its capital is Dehradun.
An update on the stat's website states that Char-dhams, the four most sacred and revered Hindu temples of Badrinath,Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are nestled in the mighty mountains of the state.
