DEHRADUN: With the BJP winning 45 seats and leading on three seats out of the 70-strong Uttarakhand Assembly, a new record has been created in electoral history as this is the first time since the formation of the state that any party is retaining power.
The Congress secured 17 seats and was leading on two seats till 8.10 pm on Thursday.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who lost his own Khatima seat announced that the new government will work on Uniform Civil Code.
“The government will work on Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand as we promised earlier. The people have given us a clear mandate and we will fulfill our promises,” he said.
The factors which worked in favour of the incumbent BJP are said to be infrastructure development amalgamated with religious tourism followed by various schemes, women-centric schemes and nationalism-based politics.
Jai Singh Rawat, Dehradun- based political analyst, said: “The BJP worked hard despite setbacks in the form of change of their two CMs within the time span of four months. Their central leadership campaigned aggressively and the workers reached out to the people with a mission.”
Political experts pointed out Congress leaders, including former CM and senior party leader Harish Rawat, failed to gauge the political mood in the state.
Dinesh Mansera, a political commentator based in Haldwani, said: “Congress leaders failed to gauge the mood of the public and just relied on inflation, Covid mismanagement, fuel price rise and problems such as unemployment. These issues are genuine but the BJP has carved out a new brand which is Modi. The Congress has no answer against Modi’s charisma. This election has proved that.”
The Char Dham development projects initiated by the Centre also helped the incumbent government to sail through the feeling of anti-incumbency among the voters. Many also blamed factionalism in the Congress.
Women voters likely to have played a key role in bringing the saffron party back to power.
The state government launched ‘Ghasiyari Yojana’ last year as flagship scheme for women of the hilly region to provide them respite from hours of trekking to get fodder for the cattle.
Tanuja Joshi, an activist based in Nainital said, “Women have been beneficiaries of free ration distribution, infrastructure building and health schemes. This seemed to have made them vote for the ruling party.”