Pushkar Singh Dhami sworn-in as Uttarakhand CM; PM Modi, Union Min Gadkari attend ceremony

BJP leader Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday days after the saffron party registered a massive victory in the state. Dhami's swearing-in ceremony - which was held in Dehradun - was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and other BJP leaders including Yogi Adityanath and Pramod Sawant. Dhami will take over the reins of the northern state for the second time in a row.

Apart from Dhami, other BJP leaders who will be a part of his cabinet were also sworn-in as ministers of Uttarakhand. These include Satpal Maharaj, Premchand Agarwal, Ganesh Joshi, Dhansingh Rawat, Rekha Arya, Chandan Ram Das, and Saurabh Bahuguna.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that Dhami had lost the election from the Khatima constituency in Uttarakhand. He had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes in the state polls. Dhami had bagged a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 percent against Kapri who got 48,177 with 51.89 percent votes. 

BJP wins Uttarakhand elections

The Uttarakhand Assembly elections were held in a single phase on February 14. Congress was seeking to defeat the BJP after the latter changed two CMs within a span of 4 months in 2021. The exit polls have predicted a tight race between BJP and Congress. However, the former won a comfortable majority of 47 seats with a vote share of 44.33%.

Though the vote share of the Sonia Gandhi-led party jumped from 33.5% in 2017 to 37.91%, its seat tally improved slightly from 11 to 19 seats. On the other hand, BSP bagged two seats while the AAP failed to open its account with its CM face Colonel (retd.) Ajay Kothiyal losing to BJP's Suresh Singh Chauhan. While ex-CM Harish Rawat faced a humiliating loss in Lalkuwa, his daughter Anupama Rawat emerged victorious in Haridwar Rural.