Elections for the

Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the winter capital, and Bhararisain, the sum ...

(Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha) in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

state,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

are conducted in accordance with the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. The legislative assembly of Uttarakhand creates laws regarding the conduct of local body elections unilaterally while any changes by the state legislature to the conduct of state level elections need to be approved by the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.

Major political parties

The

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

have been the most popular parties in the state since its inception. Other influential parties include, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party and

Uttarakhand Kranti Dal The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (translation: Uttarakhand Revolutionary Party; UKD), is a registered unrecognised regional political party in Uttarakhand, India. It bills itself as the only regional party of the Uttarakhand in contrast to the nat ...

Lok Sabha elections

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Vidhan Sabha elections

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1st Assembly Election, 2002

2002 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly elections were the first Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) elections held in the state. The

Interim Uttarakhand Assembly The Interim Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly also known as Antarim Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha was a unicameral governing and law making body of the newly formed Indian state of Uttarakhand (then ''Uttaranchal''). As a Provisional Legislative A ...

was led by Chief Minister

Bhagat Singh Koshyari Bhagat Singh Koshyari (born 17 June 1942) is an Indian politician serving as the 22nd and current Governor of Maharashtra from 5 September 2019. An RSS veteran, Koshyari served as National Vice-President of BJP and party's 1st State president ...

prior to the election, but no chief ministerial candidate was named before the elections. The Indian National Congress emerged as the largest party with 36 seats in the 70-seat legislature whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party secured the second place with 19 seats. Veteran Congress leader

N. D. Tiwari Narayan Datt Tiwari (18 October 1925 – 18 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 9th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and 3rd Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2002 to 2007. He was first Indian Chief Minister who served for ...

was chosen as the new Chief Minister despite him not being a member of the legislative assembly. He later won the by-election held to the Ramnagar constituency.

2nd Assembly Election, 2007

2007 Uttarakhand state assembly elections were the second Vidhan Sabha elections held in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party with 35 seats in the 70-seat legislature. One seat short of forming a majority, the BJP had to rely on the support of the

and three independents to form the government. Former

Union Minister The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

B. C. Khanduri became the new Chief Minister despite him not being a member of the legislative assembly. He later won the by-election held to the Dhumakot constituency. The Indian National Congress was the official opposition, holding 21 seats.

3rd Assembly Election, 2012

2012 Uttarakhand state assembly elections were the third Vidhan Sabha elections held in the state. Uttarakhand had turned out incumbent governments in the first two elections held in the state since its formation. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party fought the election under the leadership of its Chief Minister B. C. Khanduri. The main opposition Indian National Congress was led in the assembly by

Harak Singh Rawat Dr. Harak Singh Rawat (born 15 December 1960) is a prominent political leader of the Uttarakhand state in India. He is a member of Indian National Congress after being expelled from the BJP in 2022. After joining Congress he negotiated an MLA t ...

, but no chief ministerial candidate was named before the elections. The interim tenure of former Chief Minister

Ramesh Pokhriyal Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" (born 15 July 1959), is an Indian politician who was appointed on 31 May 2019 to serve as Minister of Human Resource Development and as of July 2020, following the ministry's name change, his title was changed to Min ...

, which was marked by large-scale corruption accusations, was likely to be the main election issue. The elections took place on 30 January, with the results being announced on 6 March. In a closely contested election, the Indian National Congress emerged as the single largest party with 32 seats followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party with 31 seats. Notably the incumbent Chief minister B. C. Khanduri lost from his seat.

Vijay Bahuguna Vijay Bahuguna (born 28 February 1947) is an Indian politician who served as the 6th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He is the eldest son of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, an independence activist and politician, and also a former Chief Minister of Ut ...

was appointed as Chief minister despite him not being a member of the legislative assembly. He later won the by-election held to the Sitarganj constituency.

4th Assembly Election, 2017

2017 Uttarakhand state assembly elections were the fourth Vidhan Sabha elections held in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party riding on the popularity of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

, secured a record landslide victory, winning 57 of the total 70 seats. The ruling Indian National Congress was reduced to a record low of 11 seats, with the incumbent Chief Minister

Harish Rawat Harish Singh Rawat (born 27 April 1948) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2014 to 2017. A five-time Member of Parliament, Rawat is a leader of the Indian National Congress party. As a member of 15th Lok Sabha, ...

himself losing from both the seats that he had contested from. Although the BJP had not projected anyone as its chief ministerial candidate,

Trivendra Singh Rawat Trivendra Singh Rawat (born 20 December 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand between 2017 and 2021. Rawat was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from 1979 to 2002 and held the post of organizi ...

was chosen as the new Chief Minister after the elections. In 2021,

Tirath Singh Rawat Tirath Singh Rawat (born 9 April 1964) is an Indian politician, a sitting Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from the Garhwal constituency in the 2019 Indian general election a ...

briefly became the Chief Minister, followed by Pushkar Singh Dhami.

5th Assembly Election, 2022

2022 Uttarakhand state assembly elections were the fifth Vidhan Sabha elections held in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party, despite its tally of seats shrinking significantly, secured a landslide victory, winning 47 of the total 70 seats. It was the first time in the history of Uttarakhand when the ruling party came back to power in the state winning back-to-back assembly elections, although the incumbent Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost his seat. The main opposition Indian National Congress bagged 19 seats, with their party leader Harish Rawat also losing from his seat once again.

References

External links

* * http://eci.gov.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/AE2012/Statistical_Report_UKT2012.pdf
parliamentary Lok Sabha elections 2014 in uttarakhand
{{Uttarakhand Government of Uttarakhand Politics of Uttarakhand