STAFF REPORTER / NEW DELHI
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has been given the important Ministry of Human Resource Development HRD. He has been repalced by Prakash Javadekar, who has been given the Environment and Information and Broadcasting ministries.
Pokhriyal has been elected as a member of the Lok Sabha from the Haridwar parliamentary constituency for the second consecutive term. He won the Haridwar seat with a margin of 2,58,729, having bagged 6,65,674 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. He defeated Congress candidate Ambrish Kumar.
Haridwar is an important constituency with over 50% Muslim and Dalit population.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Pokhriyal had defeated Renuka Rawat, Congress candidate and wife of former chief minister Harish Rawat, by winning 50.38% of the votes.
In the 2009 general elections, Harish Rawat had won this seat polling 57.83% of the votes. He had then defeated the BJP’s Swami Yatishwaranand Giri.