Barely 2 months after sweeping India, BJP loses U’khand bypolls
26 July 2014 12:38 AM GMT
The by-elections from these constituencies were held as two seats were vacated by BJP -- former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Doiwala) and former minister Ajay Tamta (Someswar), who got elected to Lok Sabha last May. The third seat – Dharchula – was vacated by Congress legislator Harish Dhami to facilitate election of chief minister Harish Rawat to the state assembly.
The results are extraordinary as in the Lok Sabha polls in May this year, BJP had swept the state winning all five parliamentary seats despite the Congress replacing its chief minister Vijay Bahuguna with Harish Rawat just ahead of the polls. Observers say this could be an early indication of the waning of the magic of prime minister Narendra Modi. With bypolls also coming up in Delhi and Bihar, the Modi Magic would once again be on test.
Chief minister Rawat won the Dharchula assembly by-poll by defeating BJP candidate BD Joshi by a margin of 20000 votes. This is Rawat’s maiden entry into state legislature. He was elected Member of Parliament for the first in 1980 defeating then Janata Party MP Murli Manohar Joshi from Almora seat. Party candidates Hira Singh Bisht and Rekha Arya won Doiwala and Someshwar seats respectively.
Hira Singh Bisht defeated BJP national secretary and BJP candidate Trivendra Singh Rawat by a margin of more than 6, 000 votes. This was a do-or-die situation for aging Congress leader Bisht. The Congress candidate was an important minister in the ND Tiwari government between 2002-2007 but had lost in 2007 and again in 2012.
Defending the poor performance of BJP, which was on cloud nine after winning all five LS seats, the party’s state president Tirath Singh Rawat said: ‘This by-poll was not fought on national issues. Since it also did not involve forming or replacing the existing government in the state, people didn’t participate enthusiastically. ’
The results are extraordinary as in the Lok Sabha polls in May this year, BJP had swept the state winning all five parliamentary seats despite the Congress replacing its chief minister Vijay Bahuguna with Harish Rawat just ahead of the polls. Observers say this could be an early indication of the waning of the magic of prime minister Narendra Modi. With bypolls also coming up in Delhi and Bihar, the Modi Magic would once again be on test.
Chief minister Rawat won the Dharchula assembly by-poll by defeating BJP candidate BD Joshi by a margin of 20000 votes. This is Rawat’s maiden entry into state legislature. He was elected Member of Parliament for the first in 1980 defeating then Janata Party MP Murli Manohar Joshi from Almora seat. Party candidates Hira Singh Bisht and Rekha Arya won Doiwala and Someshwar seats respectively.
Hira Singh Bisht defeated BJP national secretary and BJP candidate Trivendra Singh Rawat by a margin of more than 6, 000 votes. This was a do-or-die situation for aging Congress leader Bisht. The Congress candidate was an important minister in the ND Tiwari government between 2002-2007 but had lost in 2007 and again in 2012.
Defending the poor performance of BJP, which was on cloud nine after winning all five LS seats, the party’s state president Tirath Singh Rawat said: ‘This by-poll was not fought on national issues. Since it also did not involve forming or replacing the existing government in the state, people didn’t participate enthusiastically. ’
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