Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday registered a big victory in the crucial by-polls held for the Champawat constituency seat. This was a must-win election for Dhami to keep his CM’s seat. He managed a huge margin of over 55,000 votes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader defeated Congress’s Nirmala Gahtori. Speaking soon after the victory was announced, Dhami thanked the people of Champawat and said he would return the “people’s blessing through development works.” “I thank the people of Champawat for this big win. This is the victory of Champawat. I’ll try to return the people’s blessing through development works, the chief minister was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
Calling the victory “historic,” BJP workers and leaders in Uttarakhand also celebrated the Dhami’s crucial win. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to congratulate Dhami. “Congratulations to Uttarakhand’s dynamic CM Pushkar Dhami 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 (party workers) for their hard work,” said the prime minister.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who had campaigned for Dhami in Uttarakhand before the by-poll, also extended “hearties congratulations” to the leader. “Heartiest congratulations to the successful Chief Minister of Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Dhami ji for winning the historic victory in the Champawat Vidhan Sabha by-election. This victory is dedicated to the people’s welfare policies of the respected Prime Minister, your developmental leadership and the hard work of BJP workers,” said Adityanath in a tweet.
The voting for the by-poll was held on Tuesday and the votes were counted on Friday. A total of four candidates were in the fray including, Dhami, and Congress’ Gahatodi who got 3,233 votes. Manoj Kumar Bhatt from Samajwadi Party and Independent candidate Himanshu Gadkoti were also contesting.
