The saffron wave swept Uttarkhand with BJP today winning all five Lok Sabha seats, snatching four of them from the ruling Congress with wide victory margins.
All former BJP chief Ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank besides erstwhile Tehri Royal Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and Ajay Tamta emphatically defeated their rivals, handing a rout to the Congress which had won all the five seats in 2009 general elections. However, Congress had lost Tehri seat to BJP in 2012 bypoll.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat took responsibility for the Congress's poor showing.
"I accept my responsibility for the party's poor performance at the hustings," he told reporters but chose to remain quiet when asked whether he would resign.
BJP put up an impressive show in Uttarakhand riding on the crest of Modi wave and also befitted by putting up strong candidates such as Khanduri and Koshiyari. BJP heavyweight Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri won the Pauri-Garhwal seat defeating Congress' Harak Singh Rawat by 1,84526 votes. Of all BJP candidates, former CM Koshiyari won the Nainital seat with the widest margin defeating sitting Congress MP from the seat KC Singh Baba by 2.84 lakh votes to make his maiden entry into the Lok Sabha.
Former BJP chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank clinched the high profile Haridwar seat defeating Chief Minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka by 1.51 lakh votes.
Daughter-in-law of erstwhile Tehri royal family Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah meanwhile retained the seat defeating former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna's son Saket by 1.90 lakh votes for a second time. She had defeated Saket from the seat in 2012 bypoll by over 20000 votes.
BJP's Ajay Tamta upset Congress' sitting MP from Almora Pradeep Tamta defeating him by 95878 votes from the seat. Congress finished second in all the seats where it was locked in a straight contest with the BJP.
How Uttarakhand voted in 2009
Congress secured all the five Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand in 2009 with a total vote share of 43.3 per cent. The BJP, despite garnering 34 per cent votes, lost in all the five constituencies.
BSP too without securing any seat became the third player with 15 per cent vote share.
But the flashfloods that devastated the state in 2013 changed the political scenario bringing in an anti-Congress wave in the state and forcing the party to change its previous Chief Minister.
Comments
0 comment