BJP won in 65 Assembly seats in Uttarakhand

If the Assembly elections are held today, the BJP will win 65 of the 70 constituencies, surpassing its previous best performance of 57 seats in 2017, Lok Sabha election data show.

The analysis is based on the general elections where the Bharatiya Janaya Party gave a sterling performance, increasing its vote share to a whopping 61.01 per cent from the previous 55 per cent in 2014.

In the 2017 Assembly battle, the BJP gave its best performance by winning 57 seats. But this time, the saffron party got more votes than Congress in nearly 65 constituencies as it won all the five Lok Sabha seats with a margin of more than 2 to 3 lakh votes.

On the other hand, the Congress could manage to garner more votes than the BJP only in five Assembly seats: Chakrata in Dehradun; and Bhagwanpur, Mangalore, Pirankaliyar and Jwalapur seats in Haridwar district where Muslims live in large numbers.

Chakrata, a tribal area, is currently represented by state Congress President Pritam Singh.

The BJP also broke several myths. For example, it was widely believed that a Tehri royal family member cannot win the election if the portals of Badrinath were opened after the election.

But this time, the portals were opened on May 10 and the election was held on April 11 and yet Maharani Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, the daughter-in-law of late Maharaja Manvendra Shah, won the Tehri seat by more than 3 lakh votes.

The BJP broke another myth that said the state's ruling party never wins all five Lok Sabha seat. In 2009, Congress won all the five seats when it was in the opposition. Similarly, the BJP won all five seats in 2014 when the Congress was in power in the state.

For the first time in the state, BJP's three candidates defeated their rivals by more than three lakh votes.

These included state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt, Tirath Singh Rawat and Maharani Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah.

Tirath Singh Rawat defeated Manish Khanduri, son of BJP stalwart B.C. Khanduri, by getting 68.25 per cent votes -- the highest in the state.

--IANS

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