New Delhi, Jul 13 (IANS): A month after making a clean sweep in Uttarakhand in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a major jolt in the hilly state as it lost both seats - Badrinath and Manglaur - in the Assembly bypolls.

Congress candidates Lakhpat Singh Butola and Qazi Nizamuddin won the Badrinath and Manglaur assembly seats, marking a strong comeback for the party.

Congress’ performance was hailed by party veterans like Harish Rawati who called it a “warning for the BJP” and also said that this was an indication of what to expect in the 2027 Assembly elections.

BJP’s poor show in the by-polls raises questions on the party’s poll prospects in Assembly polls, slated for 2027.

Following the by-poll debacle, the party’s state unit Chief Mahendra Bhatt has vowed to undertake a thorough review of performance and also the reasons behind loss.

He told media persons that the party had lost the Badrinath seat earlier as well and hence today’s results are no surprise. He however said that the party will go deeper to analyse the reasons behind drubbing because large-scale development in the state under BJP government was expected to reflect in votes.

According to data from Election Commission, Congress fetched 28,161 votes in Badrinath and secured 31, 727 votes in Manglaur. Congress nominee Lakhpat Singh Butola defeated BJP’s Rajendra Bhandari by about 5,000 votes.

As per electoral figures, the Badrinath seat hasn’t been a preserve of any particular party. In the past few decades, it has alternated between Congress and BJP. In 2002 and 2012, Congress won this seat while in 2007 and 2017, BJP bagged this Assembly constituency.

In 2022, the BJP lost this seat despite Mahendra Bhatt contesting the poll battle against Rajendra Bhandari.

The seat was vacated after Bhandari resigned from the grand old party and switched over to BJP, just ahead of the 2024 elections this year.

BJP reposed faith in Bhandari’s ‘winnability’ and fielded him from the same seat on its ticket but he failed to deliver the results and succumbed before the Congress challenge.

Notably, caste dynamics play a critical role in the Manglaur seat but Badrinath, part of the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency holds both spiritual and strategic significance. BJP has never won Manglaur, with the seat primarily a fight between Congress and BSP, the loss in Badrinath does send alarm bells ringing for the BJP, in the wake of several development projects underway for improving the Chardham Yatra.