U'khand bypoll: BJP maintains lead in Bageshwar, Dhami congratulates people

The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to mark its victory in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar bypoll seat. BJP candidate Parvati Das is leading the race by a huge margin, with Congress' Basant Kumar in second.

Congratulating the people, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Friday, "I want to extend my gratitude to the voters of Bageshwar. I want to congratulate Parvati Das, and this win is a homage to Chandan Das. We will complete his unfinished work and his dreams. Once again, I congratulate the people of Bageshwar for supporting the policies of PM Modi in the country and Uttarakhand."

The counting of votes for the Bageshwar assembly by-election started today at 8 am in the presence of Election Observer Rajesh Kumar at Degree College Bageshwar.

A total of five candidates took part in the bye-election, but the main contest remained between the BJP's Parvati Das and the Congress' Basant Kumar. The death of Parvati's husband, Chandan Ram Das, from the Bageshwar constituency necessitated a bye-election in the Bagehwar Assembly. While Congress candidate Basant Kumar was previously the vice president of the Aam Adami Party's (AAP) state unit, He resigned from the AAP to join the Congress Party.

Notably, Parvati's husband was an influential leader from the Bageshwar seat, as he had won the elections from the same seat for four consecutive polls since 2007. Besides the BJP and Congress, the Samajwadi Party filed Bhagvati Prasad, Arjun Kumar Dev contested from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and Bhawant Kholi stood on a ticket from the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has a total of 46 MLAs in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly, while the Congress has 19 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party has two MLAs. Two seats belong to independent MLAs, and one seat is vacant, for which the by-election was held. Apart from Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, the Bharatiya Janta Party has also registered victories in Tripura's Boxanagar and Dhanpur.