Setback for BJP as Cong sweeps bypolls

Uttarakhand - BJP fails to retain Doiwala, Someshwar seats, Chief Minister Rawat wins from Dharchula.

CM Harish Rawat after the results were announced in Dehradun on Friday. (Source: Expres photo by Virender Singh Negi)

The ruling Congress party has won all the three Assembly seats, including Dharchula from where Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat was a candidate, in the byelections.

The results of the by-elections, declared on Friday, came as major setback for the BJP which failed to retain its Doiwala and Someshwar seats which were vacated by former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” and Ajay Tamta following their victory in the LS elections. CM Rawat’s loyalist Harish Dhami had vacated Dharchula for his (Rawat’s) entry into the Assembly. The by-election results have come after three months of the LS elections in which BJP won all five seats in the state.

The bypoll result has strengthened the position of the Congress-led Uttarakhand government. Besides, it will help CM Harish Rawat silence his critics within the state Congress. Rawat currently runs his government with the support of seven MLAs, including three BSP, three Independents and one UKD. Following the by-polls, the Congress now has 35 members in the 70-member Assembly.

Rawat could not campaign in any of the three Assembly constituencies due to a neck injury. After taking oath as the CM on February 1, Rawat was supposed to enter the assembly by the end of August in order to continue in office.

Rawat has defeated BJP candidate B D Joshi by a margin of about 20,000 votes in Dharchula seat. Interestingly, there were only two candidates — CM Rawat and Joshi — in the fray from the seat. The Dharchula seat is a part of the Almora LS seat which Rawat had represented thrice before the delimitation. Rawat’s wife Renuka, who lost the LS elections as Congress nominee from Hardwar seat, camped in Dharchula to ensure Rawat’s victory.

The BJP failed to retain Doiwala seat which former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal represented before his victory from Hardwar LS seat. Congress candidate Hira Singh Bisht defeated BJP’ Trivendra Singh Rawat, who is the party’s national secretary, by 6,000 votes.

In Someshwar (SC), Congress candidate Rekha Arya defeated BJP candidate Mohan Lal Arya by 9,000 votes.