Locals were not happy with their incumbent lawmakers; but they still voted for PM Narendra Modi & his party
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may not have been able to cross the 400-seat figure in this Lok Sabha election. But it has won all five Lok Sabha seats in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The state, which has been agitating on issues ranging from Joshimath to human-wildlife conflict, unemployment and land laws, has once again voted in the BJP.
BJP’s Anil Baluni won the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat, while former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, contesting for the first time, won the Haridwar seat.
Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah won the election for the fourth time from Tehri. Ajay Bhatt won Nainital for the second time and Ajay Tamta won Almora for the third time.
However, the BJP got the lowest vote percentage this time, compared to the last two Lok Sabha elections. The vote percentage of the opposition Congress, meanwhile, has increased.
The BJP got 59.31 per cent votes in 2014, 67.78 per cent votes in 2019 and 58.41 per cent votes in 2024. Congress got 32.22 per cent votes in 2014, 27.31 per cent in 2019 and 36.66 per cent in 2024. While 1.09 per cent votes went in favour of NOTA (none of the above).
Nearly 57 per cent voting took place in Uttarakhand, indicating a lack of interest in the democratic exercise.
The number of people who voted NOTA was more than 52,000 in areas affected by migration and human-wildlife conflict. Some 16,697 people voted NOTA in Almora, 11,224 in Pauri Garhwal, 10,425 in Nainital, 7,458 in Tehri and 6,826 in Haridwar.
Anup Nautiyal of the SDC Foundation expressed disappointment that Uttarakhand’s voters did not vote on local issues.
He told this reporter: “National issues are important in Lok Sabha elections. But today, when it is the era of Vocal for Local, regional issues should be given prominence. There are many problems in the state of Uttarakhand. But there was no voting on these issues. Environmental issues did not feature in the elections. It is not an issue for both politicians and the public.”
What about the sinking of the historical city of Joshimath? Atul Sati, President of Joshimath Sangharsh Morcha said: “The question of Joshimath arose during the elections. Anil Baluni, who won the Garhwal seat, released a 3-minute video on April 18, just a day before voting. He said he will work for rehabilitation of those affected in Joshimath, if elected to power. In 2019, the BJP candidate won Garhwal by more than 0.3 million votes. But this time, the victory margin is around 0.15 million. In Badrinath assembly constituency, which includes Joshimath, the BJP had a lead of more than 22,000 last time. But this time, the figure is between 7,000 and 8,000.”
Sati added that while the BJP had won this time, the party’s vote percentage has reduced significantly in disaster-affected areas.
Another interesting development this time in the Uttarakhand elections was that Bobby Panwar, the President of the Unemployed Union who contested as an independent candidate, got more than 0.168 million votes in the Tehri seat. Meanwhile, the victory margin was relatively less in the two seats of Garhwal and Haridwar which had strong Congress candidates.
Environmental activist Dwarika Prasad Semwal said, “There was anger among people regarding regional issues and the local Members of Parliament. They still voted for the BJP. The vote though was not for their MPs but for Narendra Modi. Similarly, the people of the Garhwal region felt that if BJP candidate Anil Baluni won the elections, their message would reach Parliament. After all, Anil Baluni holds a big position in the BJP.”
The plains and hill districts of Uttarakhand, which are battling natural calamities, were also in the grip of a severe heatwave this time. Two days before the counting of votes in Dehradun, the mercury broke all previous records with a temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius.
Vibha Dhawan, director general, TERI, said, “The new government can lead the Indian economy towards a sustainable and sustainable future by focusing on various environmental aspects. By strengthening environmental standards in various policies, we can achieve net zero and sustainable development goals”.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
