Uttarakhand: Congress wins Badrinath assembly seat in by-poll

In a significant victory, the Congress has defeated the BJP in the by-election for the Badrinath assembly seat. Badrinath, one of the four sites in the Char Dham pilgrimage, is considered one of the holiest shrines in India.

Congress candidate Lakhapat Singh Butola defeated BJP candidate Rajendra Singh Bhandari by a margin of 5,224 votes.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Bhandari, and a total of four candidates contested the seat. Similarly, Congress' Qazi Nizamuddin defeated BJP's Kartar Singh Bhadana in the in Manglaur bypoll.

Commenting on the Congress win, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the "the sitting MLA was punished by the people."

“Both assembly elections in Uttarakhand have been won by the Indian National Congress. Manglaur was wrested from the BSP and in the face of dirty tactics by the BJP. In Badrinath, the sitting MLA was a Congressman who had switched to the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls. He has been rightly punished by the people and the Congress has held on to the seat. Both ways the results reflect the changing political climate in the country," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X. 

Supriya Shrinate, head of the Congress social media department, stated, "Religion is a belief, not a political business. From Ayodhya to Badrinath, this is the message of the Lord."

It is important to recall here that in Faizabad, where Ram Mandir is situated, Samajwadi Party's Awadhesh Prasad secured a surprising victory over BJP's Lallu Singh.

The Badrinath assembly seat, located in the Chamoli district and Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, is classified as semi-urban. It falls under the Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency, where BJP's Anil Baluni recently won in the Lok Sabha elections.

"People of Uttarakhand, despite BJP flexing money-muscle power, have voted for the Congress...This is the victory of democracy,"said former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

According to observers, the Congress victory is significant as it marks a comeback after suffering three consecutive defeats in Lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand.