Fearing the backlash from its “traditional votebank ahead of the state polls”, the Pushkar Singh Dhami Uttarakhand government has repealed the proposed the Chardham Management Board Act in view of the protest by the priests, devlus and other traditional stakeholders of the Chardham, the most revered Hindu pilgrimage circuit in the Himalayas.

“Dev Sthan is supreme for us. We respect the century-long tradition of running these shrines. We took everybody’s including priests and all stakeholders, and decided to scrap the proposed Devsthan Board Adhiniyan”, said Chief Minister Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami in an interaction with the media in Dehradun on Tuesday.

Dhami said the government considered the sentiments of the general public on the issue. Therefore, we withdraw the proposed law to regulate the shrines, he added.

The priests and kardars of the Chardham of Badrinatha-Kedarnath pilgrimage circuit have been opposing  the  shrine board management Act on the ground that it would hurt their century-old tradition and would deprive them of their bread and butter.

The protesters also met with the BJP senior leaders and impressed upon them to scrap the Act.  Even Opposition Congress and AAP, which had offered free yatras from Uttarakhand to other shrines in the country last week  as poll plank ahead , are also capitalising on the controversial law to make most from it in the coming polls.

BJP feared backlash from its traditional vote bank, had the government pushed through the controversial Act, said analysts.

Meanwhile the Chardham Yatra has been closed from November 5 for three months due to the onset of winter.