Counting of Votes today- Congress, BJP keeping fingers crossed in U’khand
BJP banking on Modi magic while Congress expecting to sail on anti incumbency undercurrent
Thursday, 10 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The verdict of the people of Uttarakhand would come out of the EVMs today. With the exit polls predicting a close contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Uttarakhand the leaders of both these parties are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that they would get the mandate of the people of the Himalayan state.
While the Congress is hoping to benefit from the anti-incumbency against the ruling party to form the government for the third time in the state, the BJP is banking on the magic of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to retain power in Uttarakhand.
The BJP leaders are hoping that the personal charisma of Modi coupled with the massive infrastructural works undertaken in the state by the union government would tilt the scale in its favour in the state. They point out that the ongoing all weather road, Rishikesh- Karnprayag rail project and Bharatmala project have created an impact on the people of the state. The BJP is also hoping that the diligence shown by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in the last six months has found favour among the public, especially youngsters. The BJP leadership is confident of getting the support of the young voters and women.
On the other hand the Congress is hoping that it would get the benefit of the anti- incumbency and the negative response generated by the BJP’s decision to foist three chief ministers on the people of the state in the last five years. The Congress hopes to cash on the disillusionment in the unemployed and the failure of the administration and government during the peaks of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though the leaders of both the parties are confident to get past the magic number of 36 in the assembly of 70, a look at the past data shows that barring 2017, Uttarakhand has always witnessed a close contest in assembly polls. In fact there was very little difference between the vote share of BJP and Congress in the assembly elections of 2002, 2007 and 2012.
In the first assembly elections held in the year 2002, the Congress party got 26.1 per cent of the popular votes and got 36 seats. The BJP received 25.45 per cent votes with a victory in 21 seats. In the elections of 2007, the BJP got 31.90 per cent vote share but it stopped just short of the majority figure by winning 34 seats. The Congress got 21 seats with a vote share of 29.59 per cent. In the elections of 2012, the Congress party got 33.79 per cent votes and it chipped in with 32 seats while the BJP was almost neck to neck with 33.13 per cent votes and 31 seats. However the twin waves of Modi and anti- incumbency gave a landslide victory to BJP in the elections of 2017. It cornered a massive 46.51 per cent vote share and got 57 seats while Congress could win only 11 seats with 33.49 per cent vote share.
