Haridwar, March 6
Despite the Mahakumbh scam allegations, anti-incumbency factor and a number of poll code violation cases against him, heavyweight BJP candidate and Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik won the Haridwar seat.

He defeated Congress candidate Satpal Brahamchari by 8,500 votes. This is his third consecutive victory in the state Assembly elections since the creation of Uttarakhand. In the 2002 and 2007 Assembly elections, Kaushik had won by a margin of 12,000 and 28,000 respectively.

Talking to The Tribune after the declaration of the results at the Roshanabad Collectorate counting centre, Kaushik thanked the Almighty and all voters of the Haridwar city segment for his victory.

Kaushik termed his win as a result of development works executed by him and the hard work of party workers. “Now everything is clear. People’s verdict is out. Those who tried to defame me have been rejected by the people,” said Kaushik.

Kaushik had to face embarrassment during the 2009 parliamentary elections when he was initially declared a BJP candidate from Haridwar but was later replaced by Swami Yatindranand under the saint community’s pressure. However, Swami Yatindranand had lost the elections to Harish Rawat.

As soon as the news of Kaushik’s victory spread, his supporters started thronging the counting centre and his residence at Khanna Nagar.

Kaushik’s wife, brother and other relatives distributed sweets and applied gulal on each other.

Despite the ban on victory processions, jubilant Kaushik took out a victory procession and thanked the voters for their support. 

Haridwar, March 6
Voters in the plain segments of Uttarakhand gave a blow to the prospects of the BSP as it witnessed in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

The BSP, which gave a slogan of climbing the hill district segments too (Haathi chadega pahad!), fell flat as its tally in Haridwar, where it had six legislators, got reduced to just three.

This has severely affected the BSP’s claim of being the king maker and the third reckoning force in the state.

BSP state chief Suraj Mal had claimed to win in 36 Assembly segments of the state, but now finds it hard to explain the reason behind this much-hyped claim as the party has zeroed in on just three seats in the state.

Barring party candidates Hari Das from Jhabreda and Surendra Rakesh from Bhagwanpur and Sarwat Karim Ansari from Mangalore, the party candidates fared poorly, losing to rival BJP and Congress candidates.

Even party leader in the state Assembly Mohammed Shahzad suffered a crushing defeat from Congress candidate Furkan Ahmed from the Piran Kaliyar segment.

This is the second major defeat suffered by Shahzad, who was eyeing deputy Chief Minister’s post in case of the hung Assembly and the party claiming substantial tally of legislators.

But now party needs to rethink on its strategy in the state as the party couldn’t even restore its traditional vote bank in plain districts of Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun.

A dejected Mohammed Shahzad told The Tribune that the party leaders would sit together and dwell upon the causes of the poll failure as in past two elections, the party’s voting graph was on the rise as was its legislators’ tally.

While state party chief Suraj Mal accepted the responsibility of the party’s poor performance, saying that the reshuffling in the party executive committee depended on party supremo Mayawati’s discretion.

Bhagwan Singh Tamta, candidate from Pauri seat, said despite the party’s defeat in the lower plain segments, the hill region voters were slowly accepting the party ideology, claiming that the party would surely bounce back in 2017 Assembly elections. 

Haridwar, March 6
Despite voices of women empowerment and women reservation assurances, in reality political parties hesitate to allot ticket to women candidates.

In Haridwar too, in the past two Assembly elections, no ticket was given by the BJP, the BSP and the Congress to any women.

This time, two women were given ticket by the BJP and the Congress.

While the Congress had fielded Brij Rani from the Jwalapur (reserved) seat, the BJP had fielded Vaijyantimala from the Jhabreda segment. Both candidates lost badly.

Quite dejected, Brij Rani said from this defeat, she had learnt a lot, which would come handy in her just started political career.

The other woman contestant from Jhabreda, Vaijanthimala of the BJP said that the mindset of male voters needed to be changed as women were no less competent than male politicians and just needed more opportunities in the arena.

“It’s good that women are joining politics, but they need to work in the field first as, otherwise, just in the name of empowerment they can’t win elections,” said veteran politician from the district Ram Veer Saini.

Nainital, March 6
The results that have poured in from the nine Assembly seats in Udham Singh Nagar have taken everyone by surprise.Contrary to the expectations and calculations of the poll pundits, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done extremely well in the district by winning seven seats. The district has otherwise been known to be a stronghold of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress.

While the Congress has managed to win two seats with state unit chief Yash Pal Arya being elected from Bazpur and Dr Shailendra Mohan Singhal from Jaspur, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has failed to even open its account in the district. Senior BSP leaders like Premanand Mahajan and Narayan Pal who were sitting legislators and had contested from Rudrapur and Sitarganj, respectively, failed to win and were pushed to the third and second spots in their respective constituencies.

In the remaining seven seats it was BJP all the way with Raj Kumar Thukral winning the coveted Rudrapur seat and Harbhajan Singh Cheema winning from Kashipur, Arvind Pande from Gadarpur, Pushkar Singh Dhami from Khatima, Rajesh Shukla from Kitcha, Prem Singh from Nanakmatta and Kiran Chand Mandal from Sitarganj.

Observers say that there were several reasons at work for the surprising results that have come from the seats in the district. It is being pointed that the Congress having decided to field 'wrong' candidates worked to the debacle of sorts for the party. Congress leaders point out that the party leadership having decided to give the Gadarpur ticket to Manish Tewari, who is the nephew of former Chief Minister Narayan Singh Tewari, just because the latter had asked for it, proved to be a blunder as the rebel Congress candidate polled far more votes and came in second while Manish was pushed to the fourth place. Similarly, party leaders feel that the choice of candidates was also not correct in seats like Kitcha and Sitarganj. In addition to this the initial confusion within the party over fielding of a candidate on Kashipur seat also proved to be dear.

Observers also say that the shadow of Rudrapur riots that had taken place on October 2 last year had also loomed large over the constituency and communal polarisation has worked to the advantage of the BJP candidate who emerged victorious over Congress heavyweight Tilak Raj Behed, who had been representing the seat for the last four Assembly terms and also the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) heavyweight Premanand Mahajan.

It is also being pointed out that the recent killings of three persons from the Tharu community, which is a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in the district, and the subsequent developments also worked to the advantage of the BJP in Khatima constituency. 

Nainital, March 6
The Kumaon region has delivered a mixed bag of strong messages for various political parties in the form of results that have poured in from across the region.

There is no clear cut trend that has evolved from the region and the people have tried to convey that it is development and addressing of basic issues that are on their mind instead of emotive politics that is laden with heavy promises.

If one party has done well in one district, its fate has been just the opposite in the neighbouring one. For example, the BJP has taken everyone by surprise by winning seven out of the nine seats in Udham Singh Nagar district. It decimated the leadership of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which was strong in the district and has even marched over the Congress that was hoping to get more seats.

But in the adjoining Nainital district where there are six seats, the BJP's performance has been poor as it has managed to win just two seats of Bhimtal and Kaladhungi.

In the latter, Cabinet Minister in the outgoing government Bansidhar Bhagat won with great difficulty. In this district, three seats have been won by the Congress while one has been won by a Congress rebel.

In Almora district too, the two parties have won equal number of seats. While the Congress won Almora, Jageshwar and Dwarahat seats, the BJP wrested Someshwar, Ranikhet and Salt seats.

The Congress did well in the Almora parliamentary constituency by winning eight Assembly segments of the total 14 segments. This constituency covers the districts of Almora, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh. Similarly in Bageshwar district, the two parties won one seat each. While the Congress won the Kapkot seat which is seen as a BJP stronghold, the BJP won the Bageshwar seat. In Champawat district, the BJP won the Lohaghat seat while the Congress won the Champawat seat.

In Pithoragarh district, the Congress won three of the four seats wresting the constituencies of Gangolihat, Pithoragarh and Dharchula while the BJP won the Didihat seat which was seen as its safest bet.

The figures go on to show that both parties have fared almost equal in the region and there was no wave in favour of any of the parties. An interesting factor has been the people writing off the BSP and the regional forces like the Uttarkhand Kranti Dal (Progressive)/ UKD (P). The UKD (P) had fielded some of its top guns like Narayan Singh Jantwal, Pushpesh Tripathi and Kashi Singh Airy from Kaladhungi, Dwarahat and Dharchula but none of them could get a victory. In fact, Pushpesh emerged as the best performer by coming a close second on the seat that he had represented and which is seen as a UKD citadel. 

Nainital, March 6
The district has created a record in the Assembly poll by sending three women representatives to the next Vidhan Sabha from the district.

Out of the six seats in the district, the people have elected women candidates from three seats and these candidates have won with comfortable margins.

Incidentally, all three winners have come from the Congress.

Among the winners, the most thumping win was recorded by the Congress heavyweight on the Haldwani seat Indira Hridayesh, who trounced her nearest rival, also a woman, Renu Adhikary, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of more than 23,000 votes.

Hridayesh is a Congress veteran who was a Cabinet Minister in the Narayan Dutt Tewari-led Congress government in the state from 2002 to 2007. Adhikary had left the Congress and joined the BJP just before the poll to contest against the senior Congress leader.

The BJP's ploy of fielding a woman and that too a former Congress leader boomeranged in its face on this seat.

The second woman candidate to win the poll is Sarita Arya from the prestigious Nainital seat. A former chairperson of the local civic body, Arya was not even on the initial list of leaders who were being projected as party candidates.

A person known for her social conduct and accessibility, she easily won the seat defeating Hem Chandra Arya of the BJP by a margin of more than 6,000 votes.

Arya has created a record of sorts by being the first woman candidate ever to have been elected on the Nainital Assembly seat. She has also provided a much sought-after victory to her party on this prestigious seat as the last time a Congress candidate had won here was in 1989.

The third woman representative who won from the district is Amrita Rawat from the Ramnagar seat. The wife of the sitting Congress Lok Sabha member from the Pauri parliamentary constituency, Rawat registered a victory over Diwan Singh of the BJP by a margin of more than 3,000 votes.

Responding to a query by The Tribune on the three women candidates being sent to the state Assembly from Nainital district, Arya said, "We are thankful to the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) for posing faith in us. We will be concentrating on women-centric issues and will try to work for the betterment of women in the state by raising their issues in the House." 

Pithoragarh, March 6
Congress did well in the Almora parliamentary constituency by winning eight Assembly segments out of total 14 segments in the constituency. The counting of votes for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections took place today.

Senior ruling BJP leader and Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Parkash Pant ,who was two-time MLA from Pithoragarh seat, lost to Congress candidate Mayukh Mahar by a margin of more than 13,218 votes. Mayukh Singh Mahar, the winning Congress candidate, polled 33,668 votes while Parkash Pant could get only 20,450 votes.

In Didihat Assembly seat of Pithoragarh district, state BJP chief Bishen Singh Chufal retained his seat for fourth time with a margin of 10,000 votes.

In the prestigious Dharchula seat, UKD senior leader Kashi Singh Airy could secure only third position. He was defeated by Congress candidate Harish Dhami, who won this seat with a margin of 5,500 votes, defeating his nearest rival, BJP candidate Khushal Singh Piplia. Kashi Singh Airy of UKD remained at third position in Dharchula seat.

The Gangolihat seat in the district has also been snatched by Congress Party. Congress candidate Narayan Ram Arya won the seat by a margin of 4,500 votes, defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Geeta Thakur.

In Lohaghat seat of Champawat district, Congress candidate and three-time MLA Mahendra Singh Mahra was defeated by BJP candidate and newcomer to state politics Puran Singh Fartiyal over a margin of more than 12,000 votes. Mahra could secure18,858 votes, while winning BJP candidate Puran Singh Fartiyal secured 30,428 votes.

In Champawat seat, Congress candidate Hemesh Kharkwal won with a margin of 6000 votes over BSP candidate Madan Singh Mahar. BJP remained on the third position on this seat. The winner polled 20,330 votes, while BSP candidate Mahar polled 13,377 votes. BJP candidate Hema Joshi could secure only 8610 votes.

On Bageshwar seat, BJP won the seat by a margin of 1911 votes by defeating Congress candidate and former minister Ram Prasad Tamta. In a neck and neck fight, BJP polled 23,212 votes and Congress had to be satisfied with only with 21,301 votes.

In Kapkot seat Congress candidate Lalit Farswan won with a margin of 1430 votes, defeating BJP candidate and Cabinet minister Balwant Bhauriyal. Bhauriyal polled 20,733 votes while winning Congress candidate polled 22,162 votes. This seat has been snatched by Congress from BJP, which had retained it since the last two elections.

In Almora, BJP could retain three seats of Ranikhet, Salt and Someswar, while Congress retained Jageswar Almora and snatched Dwarahat from UKD. BJP candidate and former Health Minister Ajay Bhatt won the seat with a close margin of 122 votes, while Congress candidate from Dwarahat Assembly seat Madan Singh Bisht, a former Delhi university student union leader, won the seat by defeating UKD candidate Pushpesh Tripathi. Jageswar and Someswar seats were retained by Congress and BJP candidates as Govind Singh Kunjwal and Ajay Tamta of Congress and BJP, respectively, won these seats. The Salt seat has been won by Surendra Singh Jeena of BJP.

Pithoragarh, March 6
Of the 31 candidates, who contested from four Assembly seats of Pithoragarh district, 22 lost their deposits. Senior leader of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) UKD (P) Kashi Singh Airy, who contested from Dharchula, is among those who lost their deposits.

District Election Officer R Rajesh Kumar said Airy needed about 9,000 votes to save his security but polled only 6,685 votes and lost his deposit. “The Dharchula Assembly seat saw the highest number of nine candidates who lost their deposits, followed by the Gangolihat and Didihat seats where five candidates each lost their deposits,” he said.

A total of 57,138 votes were polled in the Pithoragarh Assembly constituency and of this the Congress secured 33,976 and the BJP 20,779 votes. “Three candidates lost their deposits in Pithoragarh,” said the District Election Officer.

In Didihat, of the total 45,081 votes polled, the BJP secured 21,089 votes followed by the Congress and the BSP which secured about 10,000 votes each. “Five candidates from Didihat lost their deposits,” said the officer.

In the Dharchula seat, of 47,419 votes polled the Congress secured 15,739 and the BJP 10,433 votes. “Nine candidates, including of the UKD, the BSP and the CPM, lost their deposits,” said Rajesh Kumar.

In Gangolihat, of 48,853 votes polled the Congress secured 24,765 and the BJP 16,906 votes. “Five other candidates, including of the BSP and the Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha, lost their deposits,” he said.

Nainital, March 6
The results for the Assembly elections that have come from across Kumaon show that there is a long list of prominent losers in the region.

In several constituencies, people chose to vote for underdogs or candidates who were comparatively weaker instead of re-electing heavyweights or candidates that were seen as clear winners by their respective parties.

The list of such prominent losers is the largest in Udham Singh Nagar. To begin with, four-time winner from Rudrapur Tilak Raj Behed has lost to Raj Kumar Thukral of the BJP. Thukral beat both Behed as well as prominent BSP leader Premanand Mahajan on this seat.

Similarly, Gopal Singh Rana, a Congress heavyweight, lost to Prem Singh of the BJP on Nanak 
Matta seat.

Rana had registered record victories in the 2002 and 2007 Assembly elections. On Gadarpur seat, high-profile candidate fielded by the Congress Manish Tewari, who is the nephew of former Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari, has lost to Arvind Pandey of the BJP.

In the same way, Prakash Joshi, who is a protege of none other than Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, has lost to Bansidhar Bhagat of the BJP on the Kaladhungi seat.

In Bageshwar district, Balwant Singh Bhauryal of the BJP has lost to Lalit Farswan of the Congress and in Pithoragarh, Prakash Pant of the BJP has been beaten by Mayukh Mahar of the Congress.

Senior leaders from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive), the lone regional party with some standing, have also lost in the region. The list includes names like Narayan Singh Jantwal who lost from the Kaladhungi seat, Kashi Singh Airy who lost from the Dharchula seat and Pushpesh Tripathi who has lost from the Dwarahat seat that was once considered as a citadel of the UKD.

Another prominent loser has been Ranjeet Rawat from the Salt constituency of Almora district where he was beaten by Surendra Singh Jeena of the BJP.