The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand won the prestigious seat of the Mayor of Dehra Dun in the civic polls held in the state on April 19. But the ruling party did not do all that well in the civic bodies elsewhere in the state.Although people preferred independents for their local bodies, the win in Dehra Dun will further strengthen Khanduri’s hold. His close associate Vinod Chamoli won by defeating his closest rival Rajni Rawat, a eunuch contesting as an independent candidate, by a margin of over 16,000 votes. Vinod Chamoli got 60,867 votes against his closest rival Rajni Rawat who got 44,224 votes. Congress candidate Surat Singh Negi stood third with 40,642 votes. The BJP government has the Congress to thank for its win in Dehra Dun. It was the infighting in the Congress that gave the BJP an edge. Apart from winning the Dehra Dun Municipal Corporation, the BJP won the Mayoral post and also 28 out of total 60 wards. Elsewhere in the state, the results were mixed and in many instances voters appeared to prefer independent candidates. Elections were held for 32 municipalities and 27 nagar panchayats. In the one year that he has been chief minister, Khanduri has won two crucial assembly seats and also the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha by-election. Early this year, in a close one-to-one fight with the Congress, Khanduri was instrumental in pulling off a narrow victory for his party with the support of the Defence Forces voters in the Pauri Garhwal by-poll. Interestingly, the ruling BJP lost narrowly in the votes polled through EVMs but won it with the Services postal ballots. At a time when it looked like the chief minister and his government were losing popularity, Khanduri was directed by the High Court to hold civic elections.However, infighting in the state Congress ensured that he didn’t lose the lone municipal corporation of Dehra Dun. The Congress sidelined strong contenders like sitting Mayor Manorama Sharma and senior leader Suryakant Dhasmana and instead settled for Surat Singh Negi, a criminal lawyer. And surprisingly the senior leaders who gave him the ticket, shied away from campaigning for him.On the other hand, Khanduri handpicked Vinod Chamoli, his close associate and a former chief of the Dehra Dun municipality, overlooking opposition from his party. He later won over most of the dissidents with the help of party organisation. Disillusioned with the Congress for its failure to put up a strong contender, many voters preferred to go with Rajni Rawat as the polling day approached. More than 25,000 votes polled by Rawat point towards the anger of the voters towards the Congress for its failure to put up a formidable candidate. The split votes between Rajni Rawat, Congress candidate Surat Singh Negi and Vivekanand Khanduri of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) ensured that the BJP candidate Vinod Chamoli won.The Congress won over 75 per cent of the civic bodies in 2003 civic polls including the lone corporation of Dehra Dun. Earlier, the Congress had swept the first assembly elections held in the state in February 2002.
