Two candidates squeak home by razor-thin margins

Dehra Dun, Feb 28 (UNI) At least two successful candidates in the Uttarakhand elections will be rejoicing for the wafer-thin margins that ensured their victory.

Whereas the largest victory margin was achieved by the BJP's Madan Kaushik, who defeated his nearest rival, SP's Ambrish Kumar, to retain the Hardwar assembly constituency by the stupendous margin of 29, 657 votes, there were two candidates who won the seat by two-digit, and in one case, by a single-digit margin of four votes.

Following Mr Kaushik were Congress' Gopal Singh Rana who retained the Khatima seat by defeating his BJP rival Gopal Chandra by 18,924 votes and BJP's Harbhajan Singh Cheema who retained Kashipur, triumphing over SP's Mohd Zubair by 15,975 votes but, on the other end of the scale, were Congress rebel Yashpal Benam, contesting as an Independent, and UKD's Om Gopal Rawat who won Pauri and Narendranagar assembly constituencies by 14 and four votes respectively.

In Pauri, Yashpal Benam -- who felled Education Minister Narendra Singh Bhandari in Pauri -- snatched the seat from the BJP, defeating the party's Tirth Singh Rawat by a margin of 14 votes.

Despite a recount, demanded by the smarting loser, Benam maintained his slender lead.

In Narendra Nagar constituency, which was the last result to be declared, a recount was demanded by the BJP candidate Lakhi Ram Joshi -- who came third -- after Congress aspirant Subodh Uniyal sprinted to victory by a single-digit margin of seven votes over his UKD rival, O G Rawat.

High drama followed after the recount with candidates squabbling with the election officials over a disgreement over the postal ballots, and the intervention of the EC observer was made necessary to resolve the matter. Mr Rawat, who went on a dharna to demand the announcement of results of the recount -- which he claimed make him victor -- succeeded in his contention as he was declared winner by four votes. The UKD has snatched the seat away from the Congress.

UNI