Uttarakhand: BJP wins 45 seats; Cong improves tally by winning 17 seats

The BJP has so far won 45 Assembly seats in Uttarakhand and leads in two more, while the Congress has emerged victorious in 17 seats and leads in two more. The BSP has one a seat and leads in one more, while Independent candidates have bagged two seats.

Though heading for a big win for a second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) tally seems to be shrinking by around 10 seats. It had won 57 seats in the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly polls.

The Congress on the other hand has improved its performance by winning 17 seats and leading in two more. It had won 11 seats in 2017 against the BJP's historic score of 57 out of a total of 70 Assembly seats in the state.

However, the most notable candidates to lose in the 2022 Uttarakhand polls are Congress veteran Harish Rawat and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who had led their respective parties' poll campaigns in the state and were billed to be the top contenders for the post of chief minister.

Dhami's loss may lead to a fresh search in the BJP for a new face for the top post or the party may prefer to continue with him as it has already faced much criticism for giving three chief ministers to the state in less than five years, despite getting a huge mandate in the 2017 Assembly polls.