After Getting Routed In Ayodhya, BJP Now Loses Key Badrinath Seat In Uttarakhand Bypolls

A month after facing a third consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand, Congress has made an impressive comeback.

Candidates Lakhpat Singh Butola and Qazi Nizamuddin won the Badrinath and Manglaur Assembly seats respectively, as announced on Saturday.

Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/iamLakhpatsinghbutola

In Badrinath, first-time candidate Butola secured 27,696 votes, defeating BJP's Rajendra Singh Bhandari by 5,095 votes.

Bhandari, a three-term MLA and former state minister, received 22,601 votes. The seat became vacant after Bhandari left Congress to join BJP.

In the poll held on July 10, a total of 54,228 votes were cast, out of which, 28,161 votes went to the Congress, while the BJP got 22,937 votes.

Bhandari got 10,000 less votes this time than he did in the 2022 assembly elections.

Independent candidate Naval Kishor Khali finished third, with 1,813 votes.

Himmat Singh of Sainik Samaj Party got 494 votes.

(With PTI inputs)