Who will be BJP’s CM In Uttarakhand?

Uttarakhand has 70 seats in its Assembly. The state’s local politics is marked by infighting, with barely any chief minister completing their term. Congress came to power in the 2012 elections and went through a period of instability in early 2016 when nine of the Congress government’s MLAs moved to the Opposition. Though Chief Minister Harish Rawat, of the Congress party, won the trust vote last year, he’s not been able to translate that into an electoral win. Rawat has lost from the both Haridwar Rural and Kichha constituencies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party went to polls without a chief ministerial candidate and is set to form the government in the hill state. The next big question, though, is pertaining to its chief ministerial candidate. Satpal Maharaj, who was with the Congress till 2014 and joined BJP after Lok Sabha, is a favourite, according to most accounts at the BJP headquarters in Dehradun.

Vijay Bahuguna, who was Congress CM till he stepped down in 2014 after the Uttarakhand floods, is also a heavyweight that may shape BJP’s decision. He joined the BJP last year and has not contested these elections. But his son Saurabh Bahuguna contested from the Sitarganj constituency. He is leading there with 50,597 seats. BJP state chief Ajay Bhatt is another name doing the rounds. He is contesting from the Ranikhet constituency, where Indian National Congress candidate Karan Mahara gave him a tough fight. Bhatt lost there with 14,054 votes.

17:34pm: Satpal Maharaj wins from Chaubattakhal with 20,921 votes, according to EC.

15.53pm: Harish Rawat of Congress has submitted his resignation from the position of chief minister. According to ECI, BJP has won 32 seats and is leading in 25 more.

13:28pm: Satpal Maharaj of BJP leading with 17,435 votes in Chaubattakhal constituency.

13:21pm: BJP leading in 56 seats.

12.15pm: Chief Minister Harish Rawat of Congress loses from Haridwar (rural).

12.08pm: Official figures from Election Commission of India:

10:15am: FB Live from BJP office in Dehradun.

10.11am: Leads are in for all 70 seats in Uttarkhand. BJP is leading in more than 50 seats at present.

9.20am: CNN-News 18 calls it: BJP winning in Uttarakhand. NewsX says BJP is leading in 44 out of 70 seats.

8.56am: India Today tells us Harish Rawat is yet to wake up while counting has begun for all seats in Uttarakhand. Here’s what the exit polls predicted for the state: