In the recently concluded Uttarakhand Panchayat elections, both the BJP and the Congress claimed victory. As the results were declared late Friday evening, the saffron party claimed to have bagged 127 seats of the 315 it contested, while the Congress said that 138 seats out of the 198 candidates won the elections this time.
The election was held across 12 districts (except Haridwar) for electing 358 Zilla Panchayat members, 2,974 Block Development Council members, and 7,499 Panchayat heads.
The BJP claims that 58 rebel candidates who were not given the party ticket eventually ended up winning as independent candidates. The party’s performance in districts like Chamoli was desirable. However, the Nainital MLA Sarita Arya’s son, Rohit Arya, contested for the Bhowali Gaon district Panchayat seat but was defeated by an independent candidate. Neetu Rawat, the wife of Lansdowne MLA Dilip Rawat, also lost in the district Panchayat elections.
“The party had left 43 seats open and even there it secured victories over 31 seats. Additionally, 58 candidates aligned with BJP ideology also won. Although BJP has won 216 seats, a clear majority to form boards in the district,” said the state BJP chief Mahindra Bhatt.
As far as Congress is concerned, party leader Suryakant Dhasmana said, “Not just in rural pockets, we have made massive gains in urban areas in Dehradun. A total of 3,012 were won by Congress candidates while four are from the Congress background.”