BJP beats Uttarakhand incumbency even as Dhami, Rawats fall

Even as the BJP has bucked the trend and grabbed the crown in the hill region of Uttarakhand, its incumbent chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost the battle from his constituency of Khatima.

Uttarakhand has had a history of not having an incumbent government in power for consecutive terms. This will be the first time in the state's 21-year term that a party will come to power for a consecutive term.

Congress leader Harish Rawat, a former CM, had lost to BJP in 2017 after nine Congress MLAs rebelled against him, pushing the BJP to power.

Read | BJP pygmies Congress in Uttarakhand, bucks trend to retain power

After the BJP returned to power in 2017, another Rawat took the reins of the party. Trivendra Singh Rawat from Doiwala became the chief minister only to vacate the throne for a third Rawat—Tirath Singh Rawat.

Dhami, one of the youngest CMs, replaced Rawat this point.

Dhami was plucked out of obscurity by the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership last July to be made the Uttarakhand chief minister, with just months to go before the party faced the assembly elections.

However, this has only put BJP's choice of a CM face in more doubt after he lost Khatima by a margin of about 6,500 votes.

There is no official word on who will take the mantle even as names of MPs Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal, BJP media head Anil Baluni, Minister of State Ajay Bhatt, Dhan Singh Rawat, Satpal Maharaj and Arvind Pandey are doing the rounds.

Some state leaders are of the view that Dhami was returning as chief minister as he had got a few days in the chair when he came in after Tirath Singh Rawat, who could not be elected within six months of assuming the office.

(With agency, DHNS inputs)