Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami won the byelection to Champawat constituency by polling over 58,000 votes and gaining 92.94 per cent of the total votes.
As per the results published by the Election Commission of India after counting of votes on Friday, Dhami gained 58,258 votes in the election, including 990 postal votes. The bypoll was held on May 31 and a total of 62,683 votes were polled in the byelection, including 1,088 postal votes.
Dhami won the election by beating Congress candidate Nirmala Gahtori by a massive margin of over 55,000 votes. While the Congress candidate gained 3,233 votes, Samajwadi Party's Manoj Kumar Bhatt got only 413 votes in the byelection.
Though the BJP won in the Uttarakhand Assembly elections held in March, Dhami, who contested at Khatima, lost the seat to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by 6,579 votes. BJP legislator Kailash Chandra Gahtori, who got elected from Champawat in the elections, resigned to make way for the bypoll. Dhami took to Twitter and thanked voters for the win. Dhami tweeted that he was feeling emotional by seeing love and blessings showered on him by people of the constituency.
BJP reactions
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Dhami on the massive victory. Modi tweeted “Congratulations to Uttarakhand’s dynamic CM @pushkardhami for the record win from Champawat. I am confident he will work even harder for the progress of Uttarakhand. I thank the people of Champawat for placing their faith in BJP and laud our Karyakartas for their hardwork.”
BJP Chief Ministers Shivaraj Singh Chouhan and Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and other senior leaders of the party congratulated him on the win.
Odisha
In the bypoll held in Brajarajnagar constituency in Odisha, Biju Janata Dal candidate Alaka Mohanty was leading by a margin of 22,070 votes at 12.30pm against her nearest rival, Radharani Panda.