U'khand: BJP short of majority, seeking allies

Dehra Dun, Feb 27: Riding on an anti-incumbency wave, the BJP is on the verge of returning to power in Uttarakhand, but seems likely to fall short of a majority on its own.

With almost all the results in, the party has bagged 32 seats, far ahead of the Congress' 21, while the BSP has made a strong showing in the Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts, winning eight seats. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) got two and independents won three. However, the Samajwadi Party and the Uma Bharti-led Bharatiya Jan Shakti failed to register any win.

In the two results yet to come in, the BJP is leading in both and will also pin its hope on Narendra Nagar constituency, where a recount has been ordered in view of the Congress candidate's single-digit margin of victory.

The largest victory margin was achieved by the BJP's Madan Kaushik (Haridwar), who won with a margin of 22,700 votes, while the lowest was the 14 votes for independent candidate Yashpal Benam, who felled Education Minister Narendra Singh Bhandari in Pauri. Despite a recount, Benam maintained his slender lead.

Mr Bhandari was one of the two ministers in the N D Tiwari government who were defeated. The other was the high-profile Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hridayesh, who lost to her BJP rival Bansi Dhar Bhagat in Haldwani by a margin of over 4000 votes.

Agriculture Minister Mahendra Singh Mahra, Health Minister Tilak Raj Behar and Power Minister Amita Rawat retained their Lohaghat, Rudrapur-Kichha and Bironkhal seats respectively.

Speaker in the outgoing Assembly Yashpal Arya (Congress) and his predecessor in the post Prakash Pant (BJP) won the Mukteshwar (reserved) and Pithoragarh assembly seats respectively.

The hill state's first Chief Minister Nityanand Swamy lost in Laxmichowk constituency to the Congress' Dinesh Agarwal.

Now the BJP will have to solve the ticklish problem of selecting its leader. Whereas former Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Maj Gen (retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri was supposedly to be the choice, former CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari is also understood to be in the race. Meanwhile, former HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi's name is also being floated.

UNI