Champawat bypolls result: Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami takes huge lead

Update: 10.20 am: BJP workers celebrate as Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami leads from Champawat assembly seat with 54,121 votes CM shows a victory sign as trends indicate a win in key bypoll

The counting of votes is underway in Uttarakhand's Champawat which is likely to seal the fate of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The counting of votes has begun at 8 am on Friday. District Election Officer / DM Narendra Singh Bhandari said that the counting of postal ballots and service votes will be done first in the morning following this the votes using EVMs will be counted.

Four candidates including BJP's Pushkar Singh Dhami, Nirmala Gahatodi from Congress, Independent candidate Himanshu Gadkoti, and Manoj Bhatt, supported by SP have entered the fray for the Champawat by-election whose fate will be decided today, June 3. 

Dhami needs to win this poll to enter the state assembly after he lost elections against Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri from the Khatima Assembly seat.

Counting updates

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) unit started celebrating as Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami secured a leads from Champawat assembly seat with 54,121 votes. By the end of the ninth round of counting of votes for Champawat, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is leading with 35,839 votes.

As of Round 7 of counting, Pushkar Singh Dhami has secured 25,219 votes while Nirmala Gahatodi has 1,276 votes. 

In the third round of counting, Dhami was leading by 10,617 votes while the Congress candidate has 425 votes

Champawat bypolls 

Speaking to the reporters after reaching Champawat's camp office at Banbasa, Chief Minister Dhami said, "Today is a historic day. People have supported me a lot".

Expressing confidence in winning the polls, he stated, "Voting has happened in great numbers. People of Champawant have faith in BJP". He further stressed working for the progress of Champawat. 

(Image: Pushkar Singh Dhami/Twitter/PTI)