DEHRADUN: Independent candidates defeated the BJP’s official nominees in two newly contested seats in the Uttarakhand urban local bodies election results declared on Thursday.
Polling was held on Tuesday for the three civic bodies. While the BJP secured the chairperson’s post in Tehri district’s Narendranagar municipal council unopposed, it suffered setbacks in Champawat’s Pati Nagar Panchayat and Udham Singh Nagar’s Garhi Negi Nagar Panchayat.
In Champawat, Independent candidate Narayan Lal won the Pati Nagar Panchayat chairperson’s election, defeating BJP nominee Naveen Ram by 224 votes.
The contest remained tense till the end, with the counting of votes for the chairperson’s post going through three rounds of recounting before Narayan Lal was finally declared elected.
Pati witnessed its first-ever local body election, adding to the significance of the result. All four elected ward members in the Nagar Panchayat are also Independents.
Narayan Lal’s campaign had attracted attention after popular singer Pawandeep Rajan canvassed for him. Narayan Lal is understood to be a close relative of the singer.
In Udham Singh Nagar, the first election to the newly constituted Garhi Negi Nagar Panchayat also produced an upset. Independent candidate Abhishek Sukhija defeated BJP’s official candidate Sachin Batla by a narrow margin of 94 votes.
The contest saw high drama over demands for recounting, with senior BJP leaders remaining present at the counting centre till the final stages. After his victory, Sukhija lay down on the ground in a gesture of gratitude and offered thanks to God.
Interestingly, Sukhija later indicated that he could align himself with the BJP.
Party sources said he had contested as a rebel candidate. “I was earlier a BJP worker and will remain with the BJP in the future as well,” Sukhija said after the result.
In Narendranagar municipal council, the BJP’s chairperson candidate was elected unopposed. In the ward contests there, the BJP won four of the seven seats, while the Congress secured three.
Though the elections were limited to only three civic bodies, the results have triggered intense political reactions in the state.
The Congress claimed that the Independent winners in Pati and Garhi Negi had its support and said the results reflected growing public anger against the ruling party.
“If our candidate’s nomination had not been rejected in Narendranagar, the Congress would have won there too,” state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal said.
“This beginning shows that the picture for 2027 is gradually becoming clear.”
The BJP, however, dismissed the Congress claim. State BJP president Mahendra Bhatt said the Congress had no reason to celebrate.
“The BJP has won one seat, but the Congress has not won anywhere,” Bhatt said. “The party will review the defeats in Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar at the organisational level.”
