Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday won the bye-poll to the Champawat constituency by a record margin of 55,025 votes, Election Commission data showed.
The bye-poll was crucial as Dhami had lost the Khatima seat in the Assembly elections held in February. However, as the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to retain him as the chief minister, he was required to win a bye-election within six months.
The BJP had won a clear majority in the Assembly elections, bagging 47 of the 70 seats in the state.
The voting for the Champawat bye-poll took place on Tuesday. Dhami won a sweeping victory securing 58,258, or 92.94% of the votes, according to the Election Commission. The Congress’ Nirmala Gahtori was a distant second with 3,233 votes.
This is the highest margin with which a chief minister has won a bye-poll in Uttarakhand, reported PTI. In 2012, former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had won a bye-election from Sitarganj on a Congress ticket by 40,000 votes.
The chief minister took to Twitter to thank his supporters for his victory.
“My heart is very emotional with the love and blessings showered by you through votes in the Champawat by-election, I am speechless,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Dhami and said that he is confident that the chief minister 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 [workers] for their hard work,” Modi wrote in a tweet.
Chief Ministers Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also congratulated Dhami on his victory.
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