Counting of votes for the Urban Local Bodies in Uttarakhand is in progress

Counting of votes

for the Urban Local Bodies in Uttarakhand began on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: Opposition Congress and independent candidates registered an overall good performance in civic polls in Uttarkashi district. Congress candidates won three chairman seats and eight ward member seats in five civic bodies of the district, whereas independent candidate won 25 ward member seats out of total 39 seats and a chairman post in Chinyalisaud.On the other hand, BJP who had two MLAs in district failed to perform and settled down in just one chairman seat in Naugaun and 6 ward member seats.In a major setback for the BJP in Uttarakhand , the saffron party has been wiped clean in Mussoorie with independent candidates bagging nine and congress bagging four seats. Independent candidate Anuj Gupta is leading by 1300 votes against BJP's O P Uniyal. Congress candidate for mayor, Haldwani-Kathgodam Municipal Corporation is leading by 1700 votes.Out of 34 wards in Dehradun, BJP scored 14, Congress 15 and five were won by independent candidates.Congress mayoral candidate Anita Sharma is ahead by nearly 2500 votes in Haridwar. In Almora, Prakash Chandra Joshi of Congress has won by 1024 votes.In a major jolt to BJP, Congress won the chairmanship of Champawat Nagar Palike in the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections held in Uttarakhand.Vijay Verma of Congress got 1315 votes, while an Independent candidate Prakash Pandey got 914 votes. BJP secured third position with 904 votes.Meanwhile controversial BJP MLA from Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi, was roughed up by Congress workers when he tried to enter a counting centre in Dehradun.According to reports, Joshi was trying to forcefully enter the centre but Congress workers protested saying that no government representative will be allowed inside the centre.In Nainital, Sachin Negi, candidate for chairman, is leading by 517 votesIn Bering Nagar panchayat of Pithoragarh district, Hem Pant, an independent candidate, has won from his nearest BJP rival candidate Mahesh Pant.In Rishikesh, BJP candidate Anita Mamgai was ahead with 3195 votes. Veena Sharma, an Independent candidate, was second and Congress candidate Laxmi Sajwan was third.The polling for the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections on Sunday saw a record turnout with most districts recording over 60% turnout. Voters came out in large numbers and exercised their franchise to elect members of the 84 urban bodies that went to polls in the state.Barring few minor incidents, no clashes or untoward incident was reported during polling.There were 23.53 lakh voters — 12.20 lakh male and 11.33 lakh females — in the 84 urban local bodies across Uttarakhand. This was for the first time that Rishikesh and Kotdwar witnessed mayoral polls. While the BJP is eyeing to strengthen its vote base by repeating the performance of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the opposition Congress is looking to make a strong comeback through the ULB polls.Following printing error in the ballot papers, the polling for three booths of ward number 31 in Kashipur was held on Monday.The state saw a record voter turnout. While Almora registered 58.82% polling, Champawat had 72.21% turnout each. Nainital recorded 65.79%, Bageshwar had 70.02% polling, Chamoli recorded 65.79% turnout, Tehri was at 66.01%, Rudraprayag recorded 66.64%, of Pithoragarh was at 63.86%, Uttarkashi recorded 66.84% and Pauri recorded 70.04% turnout.