Sonia to take final call on Tehri LS bypoll candidate:Ukd Cong

Dehradun, Sept 6 (PTI) With Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's wife emerging as a favourite party candidate for Tehri Lok Sabha bypoll, Uttarakhand Congress today said the modalities for selection of candidate were over and a final call would be taken by the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. Though the Election Commission yesterday announced bypoll to Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency on October 10, both ruling Congress and BJP are shying away from announcing their candidates first from the seat. Bypoll to Tehri seat was awaited ever since it fell vacant due to Bahuguna's resignation on July 23 after winning the Sitarganj constituency to make his entry into the state Assembly. Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana claimed that the party was all set to win the Tehri Lok Sabha bypoll with a massive margin because of the good performance of the Bahuguna government in the state. Asked when the party would announce its candidate for the seat, Dhasmana said it would be done after Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi returns from abroad. The modalities for the selection of a candidate are over and the final choice will be made by the AICC chief as per the advice of party workers, he said. According to party sources, a member of the Bahuguna family is most likely to be the candidate from the seat with party cadres in favour of such a choice. They said the Chief Minister's wife Sudha Bahuguna and their elder son Saket Bahuguna are the leading contenders for a ticket from the seat. However, outside the Bahuguna family, about half a dozen party leaders including Dhasmana, two time former MLA Kishore Upadhyay and former minister Shoorveer Singh Sajwan are also in the race for a ticket. The stakes are high for both Congress and BJP on the seat with BJP desperate to avenge its defeat at the hands of Bahuguna in Sitarganj, and Congress also determined not to spare any effort to retain the Lok Sabha seat. BJP's candidate Kiran Mandal had withdrawn in favour of Bahuguna from Sitarganj seat causing embarrassment to the party which suffered another jolt when its second choice for the seat Prakash Pant lost to Bahuguna by nearly 40,000 votes. MORE PTI