Uttarakhand assembly polls to be conducted in single phase on Feb 14

Assembly polls in Uttarakhand will be conducted in a single phase on February 14, the Election Commission announced today.

All polling will end by March 7, 2022 and votes will be counted on March 10, 2022.

The Election Commission announced that no physical roadshow or rally can be conducted till January 15, 2022. Also, no party meet can take place between 8pm and 8am.

Polling times has been increased by 1 hour in all polling stations.

Senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities & COVID19 patients can vote by postal ballots.

In 2017, elections were held to the state assembly on February 15 in a single phase for 69 seats. Voting in one seat was postponed due to the death of a candidate. After the elections Trivendra Singh Rawat was sworn in as CM.

In Uttarakhand, it has been mostly a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress, with both the parties coming to power alternatively over the last few elections.

The BJP won 57 of a total of 70 seats last time - a big margin in the state - while the Congress got through in only 11. It was a clean sweep for the BJP in many of the districts, with the Congress wins spread thin.

The BJP faces anti-incumbency this time, and has tried to get over by changing its chief minister twice over the last one year. Following internal turmoil, Trivendra Singh Rawat made way for Tirath Singh Rawat in March 2021. But then, since he was not an MLA, and the Election Commission didn't want to hold a bypoll so close to state polls, Rawat had to resign to avoid a constitutional crisis. Pushkar Singh Dhami was then sworn in as the CM, and he will lead the party into polls this time.

The Congress too had its own share of problems, with veteran leader Harish Rawat first complaining his hands were tied and then later saying he will be the face of the party this election.

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party too is in the fray this time. It has declared Col. Ajay Kothiyal as its CM candidate, but the party is yet to gain heft to its charge in the hill state.

Opinion polls so far predict a more or less even battle between the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP. So will cross the 36 seats needed for majority is still anybody's guess.