The ground is set for another electoral battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Uttarakhand, with the urban local body elections scheduled for Thursday.
The elections are being held to 100 urban local bodies including 11 municipal corporations, 43 municipal councils, and 46 nagar panchayats. Campaigning for the urban local body polls ended at 5 pm on Tuesday with both parties throwing all their might to woo voters.
Chief Minister and BJP's star campaigner Pushkar Singh Dhami held a series of public meetings and roadshows across the state during the nearly three-week-long campaign seeking votes for a "triple-engine" government to keep the pace of development uninterrupted.
He also lauded policy moves like the introduction of a UCC Act and stringent land laws which will make it difficult for outsiders to buy limitless land in the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's grand vision for the hill state to mobilise voters in support of the party.
Other steps highlighted by him during the campaign were the strengthening of road, rail, and air connectivity in the state, the introduction of a stringent anti-copying law for recruitment examinations, and an anti-conversion law.
Congress which suffered desertions ahead of the civic body polls including by state party vice president Mathuradutt Joshi also left no stone unturned to strengthen its chances by countering the BJP's "tall claims" about development and asserting nothing was actually delivered on the ground.
Senior leaders like former chief minister Harish Rawat, state party president Karan Mahra, Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya, former state chief Ganesh Godiyal, and Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh led the Congress's campaign.
The Congress lost all five Lok Sabha seats in the state to the BJP for a third consecutive time last year after being routed by the party in the state assembly polls held in 2022.
However, it regained some ground by winning two assembly bypolls in Badrinath and Manglaur in July 2024.
5,405 candidates in the fray:
The polling being held by ballot will decide the fate of 5,405 candidates.
72 candidates are running for 11 mayoral posts, 445 for municipal council chairperson posts, and 4,888 for municipal councillors' posts.
A total of 30,29000 voters are likely to participate in the polls to be held to 100 urban local bodies spread over 1282 wards in the state, Uttarakhand State Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar said.
There are 1,515 polling centres in the state and 3,394 polling booths, he said.
A total of 25,800 security and 16,284 polling personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair polling, Kumar said. The counting will be done on January 25.
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