BJP sweeps Uttarakhand polls
new delhi — The BJP on Saturday won Uttarakhand state assembly elections with a huge margin, ousting the Congress party from power and winning 57 of the 70 seats. Some of the victors are disgruntled Congress veterans who had joined the party.
The Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in the state. The Congress was left with just 11 legislators, with outgoing Chief Minister Harish Rawat losing both the seats he contested, one narrowly, to his BJP opponents.
Rawat lost the Haridwar (Rural) by 12,000 votes and the Kichcha seats.
His defeat comes as the Congress state unit president Kishore Upadhyay conceded defeat. Owning up his failure to guide the party to an impressive performance at the hustings, Harish Rawat said: “I accept that there must have been loopholes in my own leadership which led to the party’s dismal showing.” Meanwhile, he also attributed the party’s poor performance to “Modi Kranti” and “EVM Chamatkar.” Former state BJP chief Trivendra Singh Rawat and party National Executive member Satpal Maharaj have emerged front runners for the Chief Minister’s post in Uttarakhand following the BJP’s landslide win, informed sources said on Saturday.
Rawat, an organisational man of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand and party in-charge in Jharkhand, won his traditional Doiwala seat by defeating Congress’ Hira Singh Bisht with a margin of over 24,000 votes. Rawat, a swayamsewak of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), is considered close to BJP President Amit Shah. He was in close touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter was a General Secretary (Organisation) of the BJP and in charge of Uttarakhand. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Rawat was given responsibility of regional election in-charge in Uttar Pradesh under Shah where the BJP emerged victorious. —
The victory in Uttarakhand is very special. Thanks to people of the ‘Devbhumi’. I assure the BJP will serve the people with full readiness and dedication Narendra Modi, PM
At this rate, we might as well forget 2019 and start planning (and) hoping for 2024. Omar Abdullah,Ex-CM