Uttaranchal poll results tomorrow

Dehra Dun, Feb 26 (UNI) Counting of votes for Uttarakhand's second-ever Assembly elections will be taken up tomorrow, with the outcome expected to foreshadow the performance of various parties in the adjoining parent state -- the politically important Uttar Pradesh which undergoes a seven-phase poll in April-May.

The main fight in the hill state is between the BJP and the incumbent Congress government of N D Tiwari, with the former seen to have an edge and be the party most likely to form the government, according to various exit polls. According to an exit poll conducted by Star News-AC Nielsen, of the 69 seats, the BJP will get 33 seats with 29 per cent votes. The ruling Congress comes second with 25 seats and 26 per cent votes while others get 11 seats with 45 per cent votes.

However, various leaders, including the BJP's Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Congress' Surendra Agarwal and NCP's Suryakant Dhasmana -- who were heading to their constituencies for the counting -- expressed confidence that their respective parties would emerge victorious. On the other hand, according to people on the street, it was ''difficult'' to predict the winner but ''it was set to be a close fight.'' However, even as the BJP is likely to regain power, the prospects of an impending contest over leadrship of the government are also looming. Despite Pauri-Garhwal MP and former minister in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri being projected as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, there are reports that state unit chief and former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who was in the national capital, is understood to have presented his case. The name of former Union HRD Minister in the Vajpayee regime, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, has also been floated.

Out of a total of 806 candidates, 785 candidates were left in the fray for 69 seats of the 70-member Assembly after Bajpur Assembly election was deferred due to the death of the Congress candidate.

Counting will also be taken up in the by-elections to the Tehri Garhwal Lok constituency, where Manujendra Shah, the son of the sitting member Manavendra Shah (BJP), whose death on January 5 this year neccessiated the by-poll, faces Vijay Bahaguna (Congress), the son of redoubtable hill leader and former UP Chief Minister, the late Hemwati Nandan Bahaguna.

''The counting for the Tehri Lok Sabha constituency will be taken up first, before the counting of votes for the Assembly constituency begins,'' the state's Assistant CEO Jangvijay Singh told UNI, adding the preliminary trends would be known in about an hour and the whole process was likely to be completed by afternoon.

The official also disclosed that the final average voting percentage in the state, which has an electorate of 60,00,000 people, was 63.72 per cent, a significant increase over the figure of 54.21 per cent recorded in the hill state's first-ever polls in 2002.

The highest percentage was recorded in Pantnagar-Gadarpur Assembly constituency of Udham Singh Nagar district (76.80 per cent), followed by Jaspur in the same district (74.00 per cent), while the lowest were Bhikiasain (53.14 per cent) in Almora district and Laxman Chowk (53.89 per cent) in Dehra Dun district.

The Udham Singh Nagar district recorded the highest percentage (72.40) while Dehra Dun (58.76 per cent) saw the lowest turnout.

UNI