Cong's high-profile losers in U'khand

Senior Congress leaders Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh who lost from Nainital and Tehri Lok Sabha seats, respectively were the two most high-profile disappointments for the party in Uttarakhand.

The two, on whom the party had pinned all hopes of lifting its sagging fortunes after the rout of 2014 Lok Sabha election and 2017 assembly polls, could not hold out against the saffron surge which swept all the five seats in the state once again.

Far from winning, the duo could not even give much of a fight to their BJP opponents who won by more than three lakh votes.

Singh went down to BJP sitting MP from Tehri Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah while Rawat lost to Pradesh BJP president Ajay Bhatt, a Lok Sabha poll debutante who made it for the first time to Parliament.

Even personally it was a do-or-die battle for Rawat who had lost both the seats he had contested in the 2017 state assembly polls and a win at this juncture would have given him a new lease of life, a political analyst here said.

Given his edge over Bhatt in terms of experience and political stature, the Congress was optimistic about his win in Nainital but Rawat lost more tamely than expected, he said.

Having lost in both assembly and Lok Sabha polls, the road ahead for Rawat looks bleak, he added.

Pritam Singh's task was more difficult as he was pitted against sitting MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah who was seeking a third term.

Moreover, being a member of the erstwhile Tehri royal family gave her an insuperable advantage of having a loyal support base in the constituency.

Singh's influence on the other hand was confined to tribal pockets of the constituency. However, Singh has something to fall back on as he represents the Chakrata seat in the state assembly besides heading the PCC.