The results of the assembly elections have thrown up some unexpected results. Believed to be heading to victory in the plains, the Congress in fact underperformed, bagging only 9 to the BJP’s 17 seats. However, despite severe dissidence arising from improper seat distribution, the Congress…
The Uttarakhand assembly elections results have been much closer than the exit polls predicted, owing perhaps to anti-incumbency against the centre and postal ballots which have been more influenced by national politics than local issues. Khanduri’s shock loss owes much to BJP’s ongoing record of…
After a long illness, it is with great sadness to note that novelist and playwright Vidyasagar Nautiyal has passed on. Born in Tehri in 1933, he participated right away at an early age in the prajamandal movement that restored democracy to the Tehri Garhwal princely…
Team Anna’s decision to enter the fray in Uttarakhand’s state elections is fraught with risky political calculations that may adversely impact their anti-corruption campaign and tarnish their reputation as a self-proclaimed apolitical force. Chief amongst these is the group’s celebratory attitude towards the passage of…
Just as the BJP was pitching the judicious and decisive leadership of their chief ministerial candidate as its single point platform, the party released a manifesto full of fantastical economic projections and claims in an all out attempt to woo voters. Already delayed by the…
The 2012 state election sees the crumbling BJP deploying their last and strongest card by replacing their floundering chief minister with one they unceremoniously dumped in 2009. While Khanduri has perhaps saved the party from an ignominious thumping at the polls, will it be enough…
Over the past few years, the 2006 delimitation exercise that redrew the electoral map of Uttarakhand for the 2012 state elections has provoked major controversy. Tracking the shifting population of the state, the hills districts (Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Champawat, Garhwal, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi)…
While a strengthened Lokayukta (Uttarakhand was one of the few states with a preexisting board) is welcome, the transparently electoral compulsions behind the push for the bill at the tail end of the government’s five year term has overshadowed its introduction. Since the passage of…
With twenty days of campaigning left in the 2012 Uttarakhand state assembly elections, the Uttarakhand United Regional Front has splintered into at least three distinct alliances, dimming hopes for a breakthrough of alternative political forces in the state. The front originally foundered on seat allocations…
While arguments over seat distribution for all parties have erupted into street protests in the past, the BJP’s decision to go with complicated poll calculations as opposed to the prerogatives of their incumbents and party loyalists has gone awry in an unprecedented fashion. Protests across…
Delimitation pushed down the road
The results of the assembly elections have thrown up some unexpected results. Believed to be heading to victory in the plains, the Congress in fact underperformed, bagging only 9 to the BJP’s 17 seats. However, despite severe dissidence arising from improper seat distribution, the Congress…
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