The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked poised to retain power in Uttarakhand on Thursday, overcoming a 22-year trend that saw a new party government every five years.
Early trends showed the ruling BJP comfortably pass the halfway mark of 35 in the 70-member assembly. While the BJP is leading in more than 40 seats, and opposition Congress was trailing with around 25 seats against its name.
Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat was trailing by a huge margin at Lalkuwa in the Nainital district. The Congress was banking heavily on anti-incumbency and electoral history to return to power in the hill state.
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Leader of opposition Pritam Singh, also a veteran Congress, was leading from his constituency Chakrata.
The AAP may be doing well in Punjab but is likely to face utter disappointment in Uttarakhand.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP), which was decimated in the 2017 assembly polls due to the Modi wave, seems to be on the path of revival as its candidate Shahzad was leading from Laksar against Sanjay Gupta of the BJP.
Gupta had levelled allegations of sabotage against BJP state president Madan Kaushik and at least five other candidates of the party, including a sitting minister, had joined him in seeking a probe into inner-party machinations.BJP heavyweight Dr Dan Singh Rawat is also trailing.
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Voting for the 70 assembly seats was held on February 14. A notably higher number of women voters, 67.20 per cent, was recorded against 62.60 per cent of men voters.
Poll analysts say that the BJP if forms the government in the state for the second time in a row it will be mainly because of the Modi factor and not due to the state leadership, including chief ministerial face Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The mega infrastructure project—Char Dham Corridor—and free ration scheme for the poor have also made a significant impact in the Garhwal region and helped in diverting public attention from issues like frequent changes in chief ministers.
