Dehradun, Mar 10 (PTI) The BJP headed for a big victory in the Uttarakhand Assembly polls on Thursday, winning 32 of 70 seats and leading in 15 even as incumbent CM Pushkar Singh Dhami lost by 6,579 votes in Khatima, a seat he had been winning for the last two consecutive elections.

The defeat of the man who led the party's campaign against the Congress in the state throws up a big question before the saffron party, which now may have to look for a new CM as it was banking heavily on Dhami seeking a full five-year term for him to deliver on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of development for Uttarakhand.

Also Read | Assembly Election Results 2022: AAP Sweeps Punjab, BJP Retains Power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

The Congress failed in its bid to stage a comeback despite being on a mission to dislodge the BJP to avenge its rout at the hands of the party in 2017 Assembly polls, where it had won just 11 seats against the BJP's 57.

Though throwing a spirited challenge to the BJP as the Congress poll campaign head for the state, Rawat could not pilot the party's return to power in the state nor could he save his own seat of Lalkuwa, which he lost to BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Election Results 2022: Yogi Adityanath breaks ‘Noida jinx’ As BJP Retains Power; Here’s What it Means.

Thus the electoral drought that began for Rawat with his defeat from Kichcha and Hardwar (rural) in 2017 continues. He lost from Nainital constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and now from Lakuwa.

Rawat was fielded from Lalkuwa after his candidature from Ramnagar was opposed by his own party colleague and one-time close associate Ranjeet Rawat.

However, Ranjeet Rawat also could not get to contest from Ramnagar. He was shifted to Salt where he lost to BJP's Mahesh Jeena by 3,688 votes.

Another notable feature of this year's assembly polls in Uttarakhand is the fate of the Aam Aadmi Party, whose freebie politics appears to have fallen flat with the party not even winning a single seat despite fielding candidates from all 70 seats of Uttarakhand.

Even its chief ministerial face Colonel Ajay Kothiyal was trailing on the Gangotri seat, where the main fight remains between the BJP and the Congress.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia had made several visits to the state during the run-up to the polls, promising free electricity up to 300 units to every household, jobs to the unemployed or an unemployment allowance, a monthly allowance to women aged above 18 and free pilgrimage to the elderly to Ayodhya, Ajmer Sharif and Kartarpur Sahib.

Political pundits attributed the BJP's impressive poll showing in Uttarakhand to the Narendra Modi factor.

"The prime minister's special care for Uttrakhand and its interests was evident in major projects like the Chardham all-weather road, Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line, Kedarnath and Badrinath reconstruction.

"Before Modi, none of the prime ministers had evinced such a keen and direct interest in the development of the state," Doon-based poll watcher S S Negi said.

"When Modi announced from Kedarnath that the decade belongs to Uttarakhand, his words carried weight because he was not talking in the void. The work done under his leadership for the development of the state was for everyone to see," he said.

"The double-engine factor also worked in the favour of the saffron party as people knew it was necessary for the continued development of the state with Modi going to be at the helm in New Delhi till at least 2024," he said.

The 2022 Assembly polls also saw the revival of BSP's fortunes as the party which had drawn a blank in 2017 polls bagged one seat and led in another.

BSP's Shahzad won the Laksar seat in Haridwar district by 10,440 votes, its nominee from Manglaur Sarwat Kareem Ansari was leading in Manglaur by 661 votes.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)