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The Dehradun office of the Uttarakhand unit of the Congress was vandalised by the supporters of two Congress leaders whose names did not figure in the list of candidates released by the party for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

The incident — whose video is currently circulating online — further dented the image of the party in one of the few states in India that still has a Congress government in power.

Also read: Assembly Elections 2017: 5 reasons why Congress is losing both plot and voters in poll-bound states

The Congress has been struggling well and truly in Uttarakhand, with the BJP is trying every trick in the book to unseat it from power in the state, where Assembly elections are to be held on February 15. There have been attempts to destabilise the Congress government in the state by weaning away rebel MLAs and imposing President's rule in the state.

The Congress, however, managed to emerge victorious from that test, but faces a bigger problem now. Its own leaders are rebelling against it, and this public show of dissatisfaction could be seen as mutiny in political circles. And that perception could dampen the Congress' chances in the upcoming elections.

On Sunday, the Congress high-command in Delhi released a list of 63 candidates who would contest the upcoming Assembly elections. The names of Naveen Bisht and Aryendra Sharma — two Congress leaders who had expected poll tickets this time — were not on them. This led to their supporters vandalising the party office in Dehradun.

The unruly protesters managed to tear down posters and hoardings depicting the party top brass, and also reportedly trashed the rooms inside the office. It is not known yet whether any police case has been registered against any of them for this act. It also remains to be seen how the state Congress deals with Bisht and Sharma, and whether they are accused of insubordination or anti-party activities.

Watch the video here: 

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