Uttarakhand Election 2022: 59.55 per cent voter turn out recorded

Till 6 pm of the single phase of voting for the Uttarakhand Assembly election, 59.55 per cent votes have been cast. 

As 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand, spread over 13 districts, are facing elections, the political fates of numerous BJP heavyweights, including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and state unit president Madan Kaushik, will be decided.

Key candidates: Important candidates whose fates would be decided in these elections include Dhami cabinet members Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Dhan Singh Rawat, and Rekha Arya. Dhami is running from his present assembly seat of Khatima, whereas Kaushik, a four-time MLA and state BJP president, is running from Haridwar. Dhan Singh Rawat, a minister, is running from Srinagar against state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal.

In the Haridwar (rural) Assembly seats, prominent BJP politician and Dhami government minister Yatishwarananda is running for re-election against Congress contender Anupama Rawat, daughter of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Subodh Uniyal, a minister from Uttarakhand, and Ganesh Joshi, a businessman, are running for the Narendra Nagar and Mussoorie Assembly seats, respectively. Ministers Satpal Maharaj of Chaubattakhal, Bansidhar Bhagat of Kaladhungi, Pradeep Batra of Roorkee, and Bishan Singh Chufal of Didihat are among noteworthy names.

Political parties in fray: In the previous Assembly elections, the BJP won 57 of the 70 seats in Uttarakhand, leaving the Congress with only 11. Independents had gained two seats. Traditionally, Uttarakhand politics has been mostly bi-polar, with the Congress and BJP controlling the state alternately, but this time the AAP is also in the running, fielding candidates from all 70 assembly districts in the state. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sought for votes, accusing successive Congress and BJP governments in the state of failing to meet the expectations of the people that led to the foundation of Uttarakhand in 2000.

CM face of the political parties: Dhami is a two-term MLA from Khatima in the Udham Singh Nagar district and the BJP's CM candidate in the 2022 election. The Congress is yet to nominate its chief ministerial candidate, however the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has named Col Ajay Kothiyal (Retd) as its chief ministerial candidate. The AAP is counting on Kothiyal's army history and popularity in the state to make a substantial contribution to the renovation of the Kedarnath temple following the 2013 tragedy.

All about voters: Over 81 lakh people are expected to decide the destiny of the 632 contenders in the race, including 152 independents. In a single phase, voting will begin at 8 am and end at 6 pm. According to Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya, the state has 81,72,173 voters and 11,697 voting stations dispersed over 8,624 sites. The state has established 101 all-women voting booths known as 'Sakhi' polling booths for the first time. She stated that all polling officials at these booths will be women, and that this was done to increase women's involvement in the voting process. Similarly, six polling stations for those with impairments have been set up, she added. 

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• Uttarakhand Election 2022
• AAP
• BJP
• Congress