Uttarakhand chiefs of Congress, BJP lose from respective seats

DEHRADUN :The state chief of the BJP - Ajay Bhatt - and head of Congress’s state unit

Kishore Upadhyay

- tasked with ensuring the victory of their respective parties in Uttarakhand failed to win the constituencies they contested from. Bhatt was defeated from Ranikhet by a margin of almost 5,000 votes while Upadhyay faced a crushing defeat at the hands of BJP’s

Sahdev Singh Pundhir

in the

Sahaspur

assembly constituency of Dehradun by over 18,000 votes.

Bhatt lost to his long-time rival Karan

Mahara

from the Congress. While Mahara got 19,035 votes, Bhatt bagged 14,054 votes. In 2012, Bhatt had defeated Mahara by a margin of 78 votes. In 2007, Mahara had won the constituency while Bhatt had clinched victory from the seat in 2002.

The situation in Congress camp was quite similar, with Upadhyay losing out to BJP’s sitting MLA

Pundhir

in Sahaspur assembly constituency. While Pundhir polled 44,055 votes, Upadhyay got 25,192 votes. In 2012 elections as well, Upadhyay had to bite the dust as he was defeated by independent candidate Dinesh Dhanai in Tehri seat. For this year’s polls, the senior leader was shifted to Sahaspur constituency.

The transition was not a smooth one as Upadhyay had to face large-scale opposition from supporters of Aryendra Sharma, who was eyeing the Congress ticket from Sahaspur. Supporters of Sharma had barged into Congress headquarters, tore posters and ransacked the party office. Poll observers said that Sharma contesting as an independent candidate took solid portions of the vote that could have gone to Upadhyay.

Talking to TOI, Upadhyay said that as state chief he accepted responsibility for the party’s defeat but said that “foul play” cannot be ruled out.

“It is surprising that earlier I was leading but all of a sudden I ended up losing. Though I am not pointing fingers at anyone, the possibility of foul play with EVMs cannot be ruled out,” he said.