Uttarakhand:
Final Results |
Party |
Leads |
Wins |
Total |
BJP |
0 |
31 |
31 |
Congress |
0 |
32 |
32 |
Others |
0 |
7 |
7 |
|
|
|
|
Majority |
36 |
Total |
70/70 |
Dehradun:
The Congress Tuesday emerged as the single largest party in
Uttarakhand with 32 members, ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
by a notch in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which was routed in the
neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, holds the key to the government
formation in the hill state where it bagged three seats.
The BJP got 31 while others, including independents, together got
four seats whose support along with the BSP will decide who will
lead the next government in the state.
The Congress, which failed to grab power in Punjab, was humiliated
in Uttar Pradesh and ousted in Goa, bettered its performance in
Uttarakhand from its 2007 tally of 21.
The BJP was three down from its 34 members in the outgoing
assembly while the BSP was a clear loser, given its seven seats in
2007.
BJP's Arun Jaitley said the BSP's vote share going down has
benefited the Congress, as he dismissed any anti-incumbency factor
played against his party.
The major setback for the ruling BJP was the loss of Chief
Minister B.C. Khanduri, who had led the poll campaign with a
slogan of "Khanduri hain zaroori".
He was defeated by Congress' S.S. Negi in Kotdwar constituency by
over 4,500 votes.
A retired army officer, Khanduri was re-appointed chief minister
of Uttarakhand last September following corruption charges against
his predecessor Ramesh Pokhriyal.
The BJP had Khanduri back at a time when the party was preparing
for the assembly polls hoping to tame the anti-corruption tide in
the state. But the plan failed to deliver the desired result.
Pokhriyal, a known Khanduri bete noire, however, won from the
Doiwala constituency defeating Congress' Heera Singh Bisht by
1,272 votes.
BJP state president Bishan Singh Chufal won from Didihaat
defeating his closest rival Rewati Joshi of the Congress by over
10,600 votes
Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya also won from Baajpur seat
defeating Rajkumar of the BJP by 15,075 votes.
All eyes would be now on the BSP, other smaller parties and
independents for the next government.
Both the Congress and the BJP expressed confidence they would form
the new government.
"Certainly, ambition of any party who fights election is to form
the government... We have an edge," Congress spokesperson Abhishek
Manu Singhvi said.
Asked if the Congress would stake claim to form the government,
Singhvi said: "Absolutely... I see no reason (not to stake the
claim)."
The Congress leader said "there are some undecided people",
indicating that his party would be talking to smaller parties to
seek their support.
Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP said his party would also try to
form the government in the state but feared that "the Congress may
misuse the institution of governor".
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