Women power and the voters’ assessment of basic problems like power, water and roads will decide the fate of candidates in Pithoragarh Assembly Constituency in Uttarakhand. Women outnumber male voters in Pithoragarh, where sitting BJP MLA and former Speaker Prakash Pant is pitted against Ravindra Bisht of Congress. While Pant is banking on his ‘good rapport’ with the people of his constituency, Bisht is relying on his traditional votebank, including Dalits, Thakurs and minorities. However, Pant, who had won with a comfortable margin of 6000 votes in 2002 polls, has a tough task at hand this time, sources said.Rain: Now Sonia cancels ralliesDehradun: Rain and snow for the fifth consecutive day played a spoilsport in Uttarakhand, as all major political parties had to cancel their election rallies scheduled on Wednesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, supposed to address rallies at Uttarkashi, Tehri and Srinagar Garhwal on Wednesday, cancelled her programme due to weather conditions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier cancelled his meetings at Pithoragarh, Rudrapur and Hardwar on Tuesday. BJP leader L K Advani also could not come to address meetings in Dehradun district on Tuesday. NCP leaders too cancelled their tours to Uttarakhand.
