U'khand panchayat poll: BJP, Cong claim 'victory'

Uttarakhand panchayat poll results were announced on Tuesday with both BJP and Congress expressing satisfaction over performances of candidates backed by them.

While the ruling BJP claimed that a majority of candidates who won the election were backed by it, opposition Congress said nominees supported by the party had done well.

However, state Election Commissioner Chandrashekhar Bhatt said political parties in Uttarakhand do not give their symbols to candidates backed by them and the commission has no data on which party supported whom.

By late afternoon, the state election commission announced the results of 5,847 gram panchayat pradhan posts, 3,824 gram panchayat members, 2,674 kshetra panchayat members and 356 zila panchayat members.

There were a total of 7,485 gram panchayat pradhan posts out of which 124 were vacant, 1,514 were elected unopposed and 5,747 witnessed contests, the state election commissioner said.

Counting of ballot papers for the panchayat polls, held in three phases on October 5, October 11 and October 16, had begun on Monday morning and continued till late Tuesday afternoon.

Pradesh BJP media in-charge Devendra Bhasin said most of the winners in panchayat poll bore allegiance to the party.

The party is all set to constitute the boards at the block and zilla panchayat levels, he said.

Pradesh Congress president Pritam Singh claimed candidates supported by his party had put up good performance.