As counting progresses for the Uttarakhand assembly elections, the BJP is taking a sizeable lead in the state as trends come in, with numbers suggesting it will cross the halfway mark. BJP is leading in 43 seats and Congress, in 23.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, however, is trailing behind Congress state working president Bhuwan Chandra Kapri in Khatima by over 900 votes in early trends.
Former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat is also trailing behind Mohan Singh Bisht of the BJP by a large margin of 7,085. Rawat, who was also leading the Congress campaign in the state, had struggled to find a safe seat. He was first named from Ramnagar but later given Lal Kuan.
Uttarakhand has 70 Assembly seats, of which 36 need to be won by a party or alliance to form a majority.
In the state’s previous elections that were held in 2017, the BJP had won by an overwhelming margin, bagging 57 of the 70 seats.
