Speaker of the outgoing Uttarkhand assembly Prem Chand Aggarwal was among the victorious BJP candidates as the party headed for a second consecutive win in the hill state.
Aggarwal defeated Jayendra Chand Ramola of the Congress in Rishikesh by 19,057 votes.
Umesh Sharma Kau of the BJP won from Raipur defeating Hira Singh Bisht of the Congress by 3,0052 votes.
Taking forward his mother Indira Hridayesh's legacy, Sumit Hridayesh won the prestigious Haldwani seat represented by her in the last Assembly, defeating Jogender Pal Singh Rautela of the BJP by 7814 votes.
Indira Hridayesh, the senior-most Congress leader from the state, died last year. She had won from Haldwani in the last two Assembly polls.
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Ganesh Joshi of the BJP defeated Congress's Godavari Thapli in Mussoorie by 15,325 votes while Khajan Das of the BJP defeated Rajkumar of the Congress by 11,163 votes from Rajpur Road.
Congress Mamta Rakesh defeated her brother-in-law Subodh Rakesh of the BSP in Bhagwapur by 4,811 seats while Congress's Adesh Singh Chauhan defeated Shailendra Mohan Singhal of the BJP by 4,172 votes from Jaspur.
The ruling BJP is all set to break the trend of the state not giving a second consecutive term in power to any party.
The saffron party has won 13 seats and is leading in 34 at 5 PM. Congress is also likely to marginally improve its performance as it is has won four and is leading in 15 out of the total 70 seats. The BSP and Independents were leading in two seats each, according to Election Commission's website.
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In his first reaction, Congress poll campaign head Harish Rawat who was trailing in Lalkuan admitted that the party had failed to win the trust of the people. "However, with an increased mandate we have been given the task of playing the role of the main opposition to which we will do justice," Rawat told reporters
