Uttarakhand

Nehe Attre

The state was created in 2000 and is the 27th state of India.

It has five Lok Sabha constituencies - Nainital, Garhwal, Almora, Tehri Garhwal and Hardwar.

Vioting will held in a single phase on May 7.

Almora is reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Key parties in the state are Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

There are around 63 lakh voters in the state.

Opinion polls have favoured the BJP as the favourite to win the maximum number of seats.

·In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Congress gained majority by winning all five constituencies.

·In the Assembly elections in 2012, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 32 seats while BJP`s strength dropped to 31 seats, five less than what it got in last elections.

There have been three BJP chief ministers – Nityanand Swami (2000-2001), BC Khanduri (served as CM twice between 2007-09, 2011-12) and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (2009-2011).

Vijay Bahuguna from Congress has served as the chief minister of the state between 2012-2014. The current Chief Minister of the state, Harish Rawat, is also a member of the Congress party and was sworn-in on February 1, 2014.