In a surprising turn of events in Uttarakhand politics, ruling BJP candidates were trailing in both the constituencies Badrinath and Manglaur where byelections were held on July 10.
Ruling party was able to reduce its trailing margin sharply from over 7000 votes in first six rounds to almost 100 votes in the 8th and 9th rounds making the contest interesting as BJP never won the seat in the past.
In Badrinath assembly segment of district Chamoli BJP nominee Rajendra Singh Bhandari was trailing behind Congress’ Lakhpat Singh Butola by over 3300 votes while ruling party’s Kartar Singh Bhadana was behind Congress nominee Quazi Mohammad Nizamuddin by more 100 votes in Manglaur assembly constituency of Haridwar after more than half the counting was over.
Bhadana was able to reduce his trail margin significantly in the 8th and 9th rounds as Nizamuddin was leading by more than 7000 votes till seven rounds of counting. Total 15 rounds of counting will be held in both the seats.
BJP leaders were not surprised over the trend in Manglaur but Badrinath. In fact they expressed satisfaction considering that party never win the seat in the state’s electoral history.
However, Badrinath seat trend has come as a big shock to them. Although unwilling to say anything on record BJP leaders in Dehradun have started saying that Badrinath seat result is likely to go with the trend it’s showing.
A senior BJP leader said “Badrinath assembly segment trend is a big surprise for the ruling party. Although 3300 votes lead looks small but its big for Badrinath constituency considering its electorate size and only 55 percent polling was recorded. More than half of the counting is over. It reflects the working of the state government as well.”
Ten rounds of counting was over in Badrinath at the time of filing the news and Congress was leading by more than 3300 votes.
It’s notable that Badrinath seat fell vacant as former sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Singh Bhandari left the party during Lok Sabha polls and joined the BJP. Bhandari was fielded by the BJP in the byelection for the hold he carries among local public.
Manglaur assembly segement byelection was necessitated owing to the death of former BSP MLA Sarvat Karim Ansari.