Dehradun, 26 January 2025: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a sweeping victory in the urban local bodies polls in Uttarakhand, clinching 10 of the 11 mayoral seats. State election commissioner Sushil Kumar confirmed that an independent candidate, Arti Bhandari, secured the Srinagar mayoral seat in Pauri district, while the BJP claimed the remaining seats, including Dehradun, Rishikesh, Kashipur, Haridwar, Roorkee, and Kotdwar.
The polls, held on January 23, witnessed 65.4% voter turnout. Elections were conducted across 11 municipal corporations, 43 municipal councils, and 46 nagar panchayats.
Counting began on Saturday and results for all 100 urban local bodies are expected by late afternoon. In total, 5,405 candidates contested, including 72 for mayoral posts, 445 for municipal council chairperson positions, and 4,888 for councillor and member seats.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami praised the electorate and party candidates. “Heartiest congratulations to all the winning BJP representatives. The public has chosen capable leaders to accelerate development in their regions,” Dhami said.
He underlined the party’s commitment to advancing clean and green city initiatives to improve tourism experiences.
Congress, which secured two mayoral seats in the 2018 elections, faced a complete defeat this time, finishing third behind BJP and independent candidates even in municipal councils. The BJP attributed its success to the “triple-engine” government formula, which aligns local bodies, state leadership, and central governance to ensure seamless development efforts.
The mayoral wins for BJP include Dehradun (Saurabh Thapliyal), Rishikesh (Shambhu Paswan), Kashipur (Dipak Bali), Haridwar (Kiran Jaisdal), Roorkee (Anita Devi), Kotdwar (Shailendra Rawat), Rudrapur (Vikas Sharma), Almora (Ajay Verma), Pithoragarh (Kalpana Devlal), and Haldwani (Gajraj Bisht). Dhami also expressed gratitude to the state election commission for conducting peaceful and transparent elections.
