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IN 2017, when the BJP won 57 of the total 70 Assembly seats, its victory was powered by the Garhwal region, where it won 34 of the 41 seats. This was partly attributed to the defection of several powerful Congress leaders from the region, including Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat and Vijay Bahuguna, who joined the BJP ahead of the elections.
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This year, with Harak Singh Rawat back in the party, the Congress seemed to have assumed that they were evenly matched in Garhwal, and focussed more on Kumaon. But the results on Thursday showed that although its tally in the region fell to 29, the BJP continued to score big in the region, setting up a strong foundation for its overall victory.
The Congress won eight seats in Garhwal, up from six in 2017. The BSP and Independents won two seats each.
Of total 29 seats in Kumaon region, the BJP won 18, down from 23 in 2017, while the Congress got 11, up from five in 2017.
Speaking to The Indian Express earlier, Congress leader Harish Rawat had said that he decided to contest from Lalkuan (he lost to BJP candidate Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes) in Nainital because “the seat is the heart of Kumaon”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had even accused the Opposition of trying to create a wedge between Garhwal and Kumaon.
Sources in the BJP said the Congress’s focus on Kumaon was one of the reasons why it picked Pushkar Singh Dhami, a two-term MLA from the region, as chief minister to replace Tirath Singh Rawat. It was a move to counter Harish Rawat, they said. Both Tirath Singh and his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat were from Garhwal.
Of the total 13 districts in the state, six are in Kumaon (Nainital is zonal headquarters), while seven are in Garhwal (Pauri Garhwal is zonal headquarters). In the past, six of the state’s chief ministers were from Garhwal, while four were from Kumaon. Yet, it is Kumaoni leaders who have mostly dominated politics here, even before Uttarakhand became a state.
Uttar Pradesh’s first chief minister, Govind Ballabh Pant, was from Kumaon. N D Tiwari, who was Uttar Pradesh CM and Uttarakhand’s first CM, was also from Kumaon.
