Haldwani Elections Result: Congress candidate wins

Representational pic

Dehradun: Around 74.20 lakh voters have decided on the fate of 628 candidates as 69 of a total of 70 assembly seats went to polling in the single phase assembly elections in Uttarakhand on February 15. 

The senior most minister in Harish Rawat cabinet, Indira Hridayesh, is known as the 'iron lady of Haldwani'. She is seeking re-election from Haldwani, a seat from where she has won two of the three assembly polls held since the formation of Uttarakhand. 

In 2012, Hridayesh had contested from the seat and won with a record margin from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with more than 23,000 votes. She had first won the seat in 2002 defeating BJP candidate Bansidhar Bhagat. 

Haldwani has traditionally seen a fight between the two powerful political parties with BJP capturing the seat from Congress once in 2007. Bhagat had pipped Hridayesh, winning the seat for BJP by more than 4,000 votes. 

However in the next election, in 2012, BJP gave the ticket to Renu Adhikari instead of Bhagat whereas Congress reposed faith in Hridayesh, who won the seat back from BJP.

Meanwhile, BJP has pitted Yogender Pal Singh Rautela against Hridayesh in this year assembly elections. Rautela is the sitting Haldwani mayor.