BJP has retained power in Uttarakhand for the second consecutive term. The party won with a two-thirds majority in the 70-member Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. BJP has won 47 seats and attained a significant majority in U’khand where 36 seats are needed to form the government. However, even this will not be enough to match its 2017 performance when it won 57 seats in the state.
But, the last term also saw turbulent times when the party had to change CMs twice during the government’s five-year tenure. There were also reports of dissatisfaction among party MLAs due to an internal rift earlier this year. Besides this, the popularity of incumbent CM Pushkar Singh Dhami’s made several political analysts believe that it would be difficult for the BJP to hold on to the state after this year’s elections. Dhami lost in Khatima constituency to Congress party’s Bhuwan Kapri.
Some BJP MLAs including Kailash Gahtori and Suresh Gadiya have expressed their willingness to give up their respective seats for Dhami to contest as he suffered defeat in Khatima.
Congress senior leader and state’s former CM Harish Rawat lost his seat from the Lalkuwa seat to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes. Rawat’s daughter, Anupama Rawat, also had to face defeat against sitting minister Yatishwaranand from the Hardwar Rural seat.
