Uttarakhand: An election where every voter truly counts

“Uttarakhand proved to be a cliff-hanger of a contest with the Congress emerging as the single largest party winning 32 seats, securing a wafer-thin lead over ruling BJP’s 31 in the 70-member Assembly. As the counting progressed during the day, the state witnessed a see-saw battle in which the leads shifted continuously. BSP won three seats and three independents emerged successful, thus positioning themselves as possible kingmakers. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Panwar (UKD-P) won one seat,” reported CNN IBN. [caption id=“attachment_237105” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A look at the detailed results tells a story. AFP”]  [/caption] The BSP and the three independents will sit back and enjoy the moment as both the Congress and the BJP woo them. A look at the detailed results tells a story: so easily could the BJP have been in a comfortable majority in the state – as could the Congress. In the 70 constituencies that went to the polls, the BJP lost 10 seats with loss margins of less than 2500, while the Congress lost 9.  The magic number: 10636. That’s all the votes that the BJP would have needed to take their tally to 41 seats – a comfortable majority in the assembly. For the Congress, 12,200 more votes would have taken them to 41 as well. The average number of votes cast per constituency in Uttaranchal is well over 45,000. Today, as the BSP and the Independents smack their lips in anticipation of the largesse these parties will bestow on them, both BJP and Congress election managers can kick themselves over missing out on a comfortable victory.