U'khand election results 2012: 'Khanduri not zaroori'

Dehradun, Mar 6: In a huge setback to the BJP, BC Khanduri, who took over the office six months ahead of state elections lost to SS Negi of the Congress from Kotdwar seat in the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

While BJP+ won 31 seats as compared to 34 in 2007, Congress bagged 32 seats in the state, while it had won 22 in 2007.

The key candidates who won the nail biting battle in the 70 member house are Harak Singh Rawat (INC) Rudraprayag and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (BJP) Doiwala.

Bishan Singh Chufal (BJP) state president won from Didihaat seat against Congress' Rewati Joshi by 10,617 votes, while Kiran Chand Mandal (BJP) candidate defeated Narayan Pal, BSP in Sitarganj Assembly constituency.

Arvind Pandey (BJP) won against Genrail Singh Kali, an independent by 5,835 votes retaining his Gadarpur seat, while Yashpal Arya-Uttarakhand Pradesh (Congress chief) won against Rajkumar of BJP by 15,075 votes from Baajpur. Adesh Chauhan (BJP) defeated Ambrish Kumar (an independent candidate) from Ranipur seat by 3500 votes.

Harbhajan Singh Cheema (BJP) defeated Congress' Manoj Joshi in Kashipur seat by a margin of 2382 votes, while Manoj Tiwari (Congress) defeated Raghunath Singh Chauhan (BJP) from Almora seat BY 1,000 votes. Madan Kaushik (BJP) tourism minister defeated Satpal Bhramchari, Congress from Haridwar seat by 8,603 votes. Sarwar Singh Ansari (BSP) defeated Kazi Nizamuddin (Congress) from Mangalore seat by 713 votes.

BJP's attempts to woo voters to cash in on Khanduri's clean image went in vain. Their campaign 'Khanduri hai zaroori' also did not seem to work in favour of the party, who had high hopes to retain power in the state by projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate.

Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, who was accused of indulging in corruption was replaced by Khanduri, six months before the polls in the state.

The elections in the state were held on Jan 30 and the counting for the franchise began at 8 am amid tight security in all the 13 districts.

Party Position

Party 2007 2012 Change

Congress 30 32 +2

BJP 32 31 -1

Others 26 7 19

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