E-Paper
Uttarakhand bypoll results warning for BJP, rhetoric won't work: Ex-CM Harish Rawat
Uttarakhand bypoll results: Congress bagged the Badrinath assembly seat while was ahead in Manglaur by a slender margin.
With Congress set to win in both assembly constituencies of Uttarakhand which voted in the recent bypolls, former chief minister Harish Rawat on Saturday asserted that the state would witness a change in 2027. Speaking to news agency PTI, the veteran Congress leader said the bypoll results in Uttarakhand are a “warning for the BJP”.
Congress's Lakhpat Singh Butola won the Badrinath assembly by-election, defeating his nearest rival former minister and MLA BJP's Rajendra Singh Bhandari by 5,224 votes. The seat fell vacant after Bhandari resigned from the Congress and the state assembly to join the BJP just before the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.
In the bypoll 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 fewer 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.
“People have made up their minds. The message that we are getting from Manglaur and Badrinath will be strengthened by 2027. We will bring a change in 2027 in Uttarakhand," Harish Rawat told PTI.
“This win of Congress is a warning for the BJP that you work properly. Only rhetoric won't work.” he added.
Read: Himachal bypolls: CM Sukhu's wife and Congress candidate Kamlesh Thakur wins Dehra assembly seat
In Manglaur, Congress candidate Qazi Nizamuddin was leading by a slender margin of 422 votes over his nearest rival, BJP's Kartar Singh Bhadana, in the tenth and final round of counting. BSP's Ubaidur Rahman, who was behind Nizamuddin at the second spot in the initial rounds of counting, is now trailing at the third spot in the seat.
The seat was with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but fell vacant after Rahman's father and sitting MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari died in October 2023.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said the bypoll results in Uttarakhand “reflect the changing political environment in the country.”
With PTI inputs
