Uttarakhand Civic Election Result 2025: Vote Counting Underway, BJP and Congress Battle for Control
The vote counting for the Uttarakhand Municipal Corporation Election 2025 is underway at 54 centres across 13 districts. The results are expected by late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. The election, which was held on January 23, recorded a voter turnout of 65.41%, which was 4.38% less than the previous elections.
Overview of the Election: Voting and Candidates Information
Voting took place by ballot paper across 1,515 polling stations and 3,394 polling booths. This voting exercise covered 100 municipal bodies, consisting of 11 municipal corporations, 43 municipal councils, and 46 nagar panchayats. There are 72 mayoral candidates while there are 445 candidates fighting for the positions of municipal council chairpersons. In total, over 4,000 candidates will also vie for the councillor posts.
Delayed Results for Ballot Papers
The use of ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines is resulting in delayed declarations of results. Though the final results are expected to come in late night January 25 or early on January 26, reports of mismatch of voter lists between the Block Level Voter List and the district assembly have generated mistrust in the State Election Commission.
Uniform Civil Code Impacts Elections
With momentum from the approval of the Uniform Civil Code by the Cabinet, the BJP, in power in Uttarakhand, entered the civic elections. During the election campaign, the party led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was also touting the concept of a “triple engine government,” that is, a BJP at the Centre, in the state, and in municipal bodies. During the election campaign, population growth and demographic change were also important issues.
Congress’s Position and Issues in the Election
The Congress responded by criticizing the UCC’s decision, calling it a breach of the MCC. During the election campaign, the Congress used most of its slogans on the issues of unemployment, corruption, and misuse of land.
Previous Results of the Elections and Party’s Performance
In the 2018 local body elections, the BJP won six mayoral posts, while the Congress secured two. In terms of municipal council chairpersons, the Congress won 14, while the BJP claimed 13. Moreover, the BJP holds 17 chairperson positions in nagar panchayats, with the Congress holding seven.
After suffering a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when it failed to win any of the state’s five seats, the Congress regained some ground by winning the Badrinath and Manglaur bypolls. It lost the Kedarnath Assembly bypoll to the BJP in November 2024.
In light of this fact, both camps were keeping a close watch on the counts that could drastically alter their approach for the future state elections.