After winning all three assembly constituencies in the recent bypolls, it’s double delight for the Congress party in Uttarakhand as it swept the elections for the position of President and Vice President District Panchayat.
The Congress supported candidates were able to win eight out of eleven positions of President District panchayat in the elections on Tuesday. The BJP managed to win only two positions while an independent candidate was declared winner from Uttarkashi. The reports suggest Congress supported candidates were able to win the coveted positions of President District Panchayat in the Dehradun, Pauri, Nainital, Almora, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts. The BJP candidates were able to win in only two positions of District Panchayat presidents in Tehri and Chamoli District. The Congress candidates for both President and Vice President in Udham Singh Nagar districts were declared unanimously which takes the Congress's tally to an impressive 9 out of 12 district panchayats.
In Pauri, Deepti Rawat, the wife of state Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat defeated Himani Negi the wife of Former District panchayat Keshar Singh Negi by a margin of five votes. In Dehradun, Chaman Singh the brother of Cabinet Minster Pritam Singh defeated Madhu Chauhan who is former District Panchayat President and wife of Senior BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan. In Dehradun, it was interesting to note that the BJP's candidate for the President Madhu Chauhan got 13 votes while Subhash Sharma the candidate for Vice President Position got 17 votes.
After the election results were announced, a dejected Madhu Chauhan, too, pointed towards this and said that it clearly indicates a coup in the BJP ranks.