Straight contest between Cong-BJP in most seats

With 51 candidates withdrawing from the fray on the last day for withdrawal of nominations, the chessboard for the February 15 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand is laid out where the ruling Congress and opposition BJP appear to be locked in a straight contest in a majoritwy of total 70 seats.

Congress and BJP, the two poles between whom power has oscillated since the state's creation in 2000, are once again poised to take on each other in a straight fight in most seats with a couple of exceptions like Haridwar and Udhamsingh Nagar districts where the BSP could be the third player. Miffed over denial of tickets by their respective parties quite a few strong leaders from both sides have also thrown their hats into the ring as independents making the contest interesting in nearly 18 seats.

While eleven former Congress MLAs are in the fray this time battling as BJP nominees, Congress has also fielded three former BJP MLAs.