Uttarakhand Assembly Polls: The BJP had won 57 out of a total of 70 seats in Uttarakhand in the last assembly polls limiting Congress to just 11. Two seats had gone to Independents.
Dehradun | Jagran News Desk: Uttarakhand voted on Monday to decide whether Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami’s government will get a second term or not. As of 5 pm, Uttarakhand reported 59.37 per cent voter turnout. This was the fifth time that Uttarakhand went to polls since the state came into being in 2000.
The 70 assembly seats of Uttarakhand spread over 13 districts went to polls on Monday with over 81 lakh voters that were eligible to decide the fate of 632 candidates, including 152 independents, in the fray.
Uttarakhand polls: Haridwar reports highest voter turnout, Almora lowest
According to Election Commission, Haridwar reported the highest percentage of voter turnout with 67.58 per cent followed by Uttarkashi (65.55 per cent) and Udham Singh Nagar (65.13 per cent) till 5 pm.
Important candidates whose fate is to be decided in these polls include Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his cabinet colleagues Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Dhan Singh Rawat and Rekha Arya besides state BJP president Madan Kaushik.
Prominent faces from the Congress in the fray include former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, former minister Yashpal Arya, state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal and Leader of Opposition in the fourth assembly Pritam Singh.
The BJP had won 57 out of a total of 70 seats in Uttarakhand in the last assembly polls limiting Congress to just 11. Two seats had gone to Independents.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to retain power in the hilly state while Congress is hoping for a comeback. Both the Congress and the BJP have battled political instability in the state in the last two decades after it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure.
The BJP’s task is two-fold– beat the anti-incumbency and also the electoral trend of the incumbent government voted out in the state. Uttarakhand, incidentally, has seen 11 Chief Ministers in the last two decades.
The new entrant into Uttarakhand politics, Aam Aadmi Party has fielded candidates on all 70 Assembly seats, with its Chief Ministerial face being Ajay Kothiyal.
Note: The voter turnout figures are not final and may change after further revisions by Election Commission of India.
(With inputs from agencies)
Meanwhile, Almora reported the lowest percentage of voter turnout of 50.65 till 5 pm. Dehradun reported 52.93 per cent, Bageshwar reported 57.83 per cent, Chamoli 59.28 per cent and Champawat recorded 56.97 per cent turnout. Further, Pauri Garhwal logged 51.93 per cent, Pithoragarh 57.49 per cent, Rudraprayag 60.36 per cent and Tehri Garhwal 52.66 per cent voter turnout.
