Uttarakhand Assembly Election Result 2017 Live: BJP heads for huge win, Congress faces rout

NEW DELHI: TThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday took winning lead over the ruling Congress in Uttarakhand, as per trends. The saffron party is leading in 57 seats in the 70-member house Live Updates on Uttarakhand Assmebly Election Results:

• As Chief Minister Harish Rawat lost one of the two seats he contested and trailed in the other, the BJP today said it was a complete rejection of his leadership.
• "This is a complete rejection of his leadership. People were totally disillusioned with Rawat government under whom corruption flourished like never before and they were desperately looking for change.," Pradesh BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan said.

Supporters of India's Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrate elections results outside the party headquarters in New Delhi on March 11, 2017. / AFP PHOTO /

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• ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 70/70: BJP: 54 CONG: 11 Others: 5

• ABPResults #Uttarakhand (leads/trends) 70/70: BJP: 51 CONG: 15 Others: 4
• ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 50/70: BJP: 50 CONG: 16 Others: 4
• #ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 00/70:  BJP: 45, CONG: 20, Others: 4
• ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 69/70 BJP: 45 CONG: 20 Others: 4
• UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 64/70: BJP: 40 CONG: 20 Others: 4
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• BJP close to majority in #Uttarakhand, leads in 31 seats
• ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 40/70: BJP: 26, CONG: 11, Others: 03

• ABPResults #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 13/70: BJP: 07, CONG: 06, Others: 0
• #UttarakhandElection2017 (leads/trends) 02/70: BJP- 1, CONG- 1, Others- 0
• Counting of vote begins. Stay with us for fastest updates on results.

• Extensive arrangements have been made for the counting of the Uttarakhand state polls where 637 candidates from 70 seats await the results with bated breath.
• A total of 15 counting centres have been set up across Uttarakhand and deployment of security personnel and counting personnel made as per specifications of the Election Commission, Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi said.
• 864 counting tables have been put up where counting for 10,854 polling stations will be carried out.
• Ten companies of central paramilitary forces, 14 of Provincial Armed Constabulary, 3,000 constables, 350 head constables, 550 sub-inspectors, 50 inspectors, and 30 gazetted officers have been put on counting duty, she said.
• Polling for 69 out of a total of 70 seats was held in Uttarakhand on February 15. Voting for the Karnaprayag seat had to be rescheduled by the commission for March 9 owing to the sudden death of BSP nominee Kuldip Singh Kanwasi in a road accident just a couple of days before the polls.
• There are a total of 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand from where main power contenders Congress and BJP have fielded their candidates.
• With a number of Congress turncoats trying their luck as BJP candidates this time it will be interesting to watch what happens in constituencies like Narendranagar, Bajpur, Roorkee, Khanpur, Kedarnath, Kotdwar, Sitarganj and Nainital from where erstwhile Congress rebels or their wards have been fielded by the saffron party.
• Barring Amrita Rawat and Vijay Bahuguna, all the Congress turncoats who are also sitting MLAs, have been fielded by the BJP.
• However Amrita's husband Satpal Maharaj and Bahuguna's second son Saurav Bahuguna are in the fray as BJP nominees.
• Chaubattakhal from where BJP's Satpal Maharaj is in the fray and Kichcha and Haridwar (rural) the two seats from where chief minister Harish Rawat is seeking a second term, will also evoke much curiosity.
• It will also be interesting to see what happens in Sahaspur from where PCC president Kishore Upadhaya is contesting.
• Ranikhet is important as state BJP president and Leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt is contesting from there whereas Dhanolti holds much interest as Congress is supporting independent nominee Pritam Singh Panwar from the seat despite fielding Manmohan Mall from there.
• Over 68 per cent votes were cast in Uttarakhand on February 15, two per cent more than the last assembly polls, in 69 out of the state's 70 seats.
• Following the demise of two candidates in the Alapur (UP) and the Karnaprayag (Uttarakhand) constituencies, the Commission had postponed elections there and fixed March 9 as the new date.
• Congress and BJP, which have been traditionally the main contenders in the hill state, are locked in a straight contests in most of the seats but presence of about a dozen rebel candidates in the fray as independents may upset the calculations of the official nominees of their respective parties.
• 12 former Congress MLAs, who are contesting this time as BJP candidates, have made these elections interesting.