Dehradun, Apr 15 (PTI) The campaigning for the bypoll to the Salt Assembly seat in Uttarakhand's Almora came to a close on Thursday with both BJP and Congress canvassing aggressively in favour of their candidates.

The bypoll is scheduled to be held on April 17. The seat fell vacant after BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena died from coronavirus last year.

The BJP has fielded the dead leader's elder brother Mahesh Jeena in the hope of cashing in upon the sympathy factor while the Congress has chosen to gamble once again on Ganga Pancholi, who had given Surendra Singh a tough fight in the 2017 Assembly polls, losing it narrowly.

Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, Nainital MP Ajay Bhatt and BJP general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam campaigned for Mahesh Jeena.

Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, state party president Pritam Singh besides MLAs Govind Singh Kunjwal, Karan Mahra and Harish Dhami campaigned for Ganga Pancholi by holding a number of public meetings in the constituency to woo voters.

The BJP leaders sought votes to accomplish the unfinished work of the dead leader.

The Congress has described Mahesh Jeena as a candidate foisted upon the people of the constituency from outside as the Jeenas have a business in Delhi whereas Ganga Pancholi is a local, who has been with them through thick and thin.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)