Uttarakhand elections 2017: Modi wave sweeps across state

For the 70-seat strong Uttarakhand, BJP couldn‘t have scripted a better future for itself. The saffron party stomped over INC and IND with majority of 51 seats in an assembly election that is often seen as a referendum on Modi‘s reforms agenda -- particularly the cash ban.

March 11, 2017 / 10:19 AM IST

For the 70-seat strong Uttarakhand, BJP couldn’t have scripted a better future for itself. The saffron party stomped over Congress with majority of 51 seats in an assembly election that is often seen as a referendum on Modi’s reforms agenda -- particularly the cash ban.

Congress took a paltry 16 seats.

About 637 candidates fought for 70 seats in the assembly.

Exit polls on Thursday largely backed BJP over Congress, which will be ruing CM Harish Rawat’s campaign tactics.

In his stumping, Rawat was often seen pitching it as personal battle fought between himself and Narendra Modi. What also went against Rawat was seat allocation which angered many party cadres. To boot, a few faithfuls decamped and joined BJP before the election.

BJP left no stone unturned in calling attention to Rawat’s autocratic working style.

In 2012 Congress swept to power winning 32 seats, while BJP came second with a slender margin. With a population of over 10 million, the state has Thakurs and Brahmins constitute 60 percnet – a major vote bank for the BJP.

BJP’s candidate for CM BC Khanduri will be thanking his stars, and surely also his voters.