Main Political Parties in Uttarakhand :

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress have been the most popular parties in the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Uttarakhand Parivartan Party state since its inception. Politics in Uttarakhand is dominated by the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Since the formation of the state these two parties have ruled the state in turns. The unicameral Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly consists of 71 members.Born in 2000, the hill state of Uttarakhand has given resounding mandates to one of the two national parties – Congress and the BJP – every five years.

2017 Uttarakhand state assembly elections were the fourth Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) elections held in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party riding on the popularity of Prime minister Narendra Modi, secured a landslide victory, winning 57 of the total 70 seats. The ruling Indian National Congress was reduced to a low of 11 seats, with the incumbent Chief minister Harish Rawat himself losing from both the seats that he had contested from. Although the BJP had not projected anyone as its Chief ministerial candidate, Trivendra Singh Rawat was chosen as the new Chief minister after the elections.

The state is primarily divided into two regions -- Kumaon and Garhwal. According to the 2011 census, Uttarakhand has a population of 69,97,433, with 66.75 per cent of its population residing in rural areas.The state also elects 5 members to Lok Sabha and 3 seats to Rajya Sabha of the Parliament of India.

Bhartiya Janata Party : 

A conference of some Hindu leaders held on 21st October 1951 at New Delhi. It was decided in this conference that a political organisation known as Bhartiya Jan Sangh will be created . Before 1977, there was Bhartiya Jan Sangh a main Political Party after Indian National Congress. Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the leader of the Hindu Sabha, who is considered as^originator of this political party. Because the main leaders in this organisation were the members of Rashtriya Swaim Sewak Sangh. So some scholars believe that its creation has been effected right from the beginning of Rashtriya Swaim Sewak Sangh in 1924-25. With the amalgamating of this political organisation with other small political parties and with those who had left the Indian National Congress, it emerged as a big political party in India before the elections of 1977. Thus, it defeated, Indian National Congress in 1977 in the elections which were held after the National Emergency.

Position of Bhartiya Janata Party in Uttarakhand :

The fourth assembly election in Uttarakhand has seen extraordinary on several counts. First, it is the first time since the creation of Uttarakhand in 2000 that a political party has won such a landslide. The element of surprise in the verdict was indicated the victory margin of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  In a leaderless and issueless election, people just voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s developmental agenda, highlighted by the slogan “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (collective effort, inclusive growth).

The margin of winning and losing between the BJP and Congress, which always used to be less than 2%, dramatically increased as the BJP, with a vote share of 46.5%, gained a clear edge over the Congress, whose vote share remained unchanged. Interestingly, in 2012, when the Congress won a vote share of 33.79%, it captured 32 seats and formed the government with the help of the Progressive Democratic Front.

The huge defeat margin has completely rattled the Uttarakhand Congress in state assembly election 2017. State BJP president Ajay Bhatt thrashed ex-Chief Minister and AICC general secretary Harish Rawat from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 3,39,096 votes.

The huge defeat margin has shocked Uttarakhand Congress. The party candidates failed to provide any serious challenge to BJP. The situation is alarming as Congress had suffered a 5-0 defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Uttarakhand too. It was followed by a humiliating defeat in the Uttarakhand assembly election in 2017.

All rebel leaders of the Congress who joined BJP retained their seats, indicating that people voted for Modi and BJP and not for any individual candidates. It was also a mandate for political stability, implementing developmental promises and performance without any pressure. In 2019 lok sabha elections,the BJP repeat its performance of 2014 in Uttarakhand as it is leading on all five seats in Uttarakhand. Even former chief minister Harish Rawat of the Congress is trailing by a margin of over one lakh votes in Nainital. The lowest lead margin for the BJP is in the Haridwar seat where it leading by a margin of little over 23 thousand votes.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, aided by the Modi wave in north India, the Bhartiya Janata Party registered victories in all five seats in Uttarakhand. Five years earlier, in 2009, the Congress had won all five seats in the state. The Congress party’s vote share slid from 43% in 2009 to 34% in 2014. While the BJP improved its vote share from 34% to 55%.

Congress party :

The Indian National Congress is a major political party of India, which had been organised on 28 December, 1885 at Bombay by an English citizen, namely Sir A.O.Hume. This party has performed a major role for abolishing alien autocratic, undemocratic and typical bureaucratic administration of Britishers from India.

Position of Congress Party in Uttarakhand :

Like in 2014 too, BJP had won all five seats in 2019 lok sabha elections. The average winning margin for BJP candidates crossed over two lakh votes in 2019. Currently, all five parliamentary seats are held by the BJP, which also enjoys a majority in the state. In the 2017 assembly elections, BJP won 57 out of the 70 seats. The Congress, which won 11 seats, is the main opposition in the state.

The 2014 Lok Sabha elections had been catastrophic for the Grand Old Party, which had held all five parliamentary seats before that. In the 2009 election, Congress won all five seats. Historically, for Uttarakhand, parties that hold a majority in the state elections, lose the Lok Sabha elections.

In state assembly election, Congress got reduced to 11 seats in the 70- member house. BJP created history by winning 57 seats. This is the third major defeat for Congress in Uttarakhand. With three back-to-back defeats, Uttarakhand Congress is struggling in the hill state. The grand old party faces a big challenge in winning the trust of the public again in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) :

The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal is a registered unrecognised regional political party in Uttarakhand, India. It bills itself as the only regional party of the Uttarakhand in contrast to the national parties that dominate the state's politics.

In the present Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, elected in 2017, it does not have any member as compared with one member in the previous 2012, three members in 2007 and four members in 2002 assembly elections of the state.

Meanwhile, the state's only prominent regional party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), had contest all five seats. Once popular for being at the forefront of the Uttarakhand movement, the UKD failed to get any seats in the state elections held two years ago.

History :

The UKD was established on 26 July 1979 by Bipin Chandra Tripathi, Dr. D. D. Pant, Indramani Badoni and Kashi Singh Airy at Nanitalto fight for a separate state composed of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. The founding convention was chaired by Dr. D. D. Pant, former vice-chancellor of Kumaon University. Under the young leadership of Kashi Singh Airy who took the charge of struggle and public agitation and the aim was finally achieved, when the separate Uttaranchal state was formed on 9 November 2000, later renamed Uttarakhand in 2007. However, in the first ever state assembly elections in 2002, the party won only four out of 70 seats, and was outmaneuvered by the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, both despite being late comers to the separate state movement, succeeded in capturing its momentum for electoral gain and formed governments in the state

So far, the UKD has not been able to achieve its ostensible goal in establishing a viable third force in Uttarakhand politics due to splits and divisions within its ranks. However, it maintains friendly relations with left parties in the state such as the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation and the other minor parties and social movements in Uttarakhand.

The party has taken on various campaigns in the past geared towards the social and economic upliftment of the Pahari people. The party has however embraced a number of causes of concern to the diversity of people living in Uttarakhand, defining the Uttarakhandiidentity in broad and inclusive terms. As such, its ideology of civic as opposed to ethnic nationalism can be compared to other centre-left nationalist parties like the Scottish National Party or Plaid Cymru, although its orientation and goals are emphatically non-secessionist. The party's performance in various assembly and parliamentary elections has been on consistent decline. The main reasons cited for UKD's decline in the politics of Uttarakhand are; inner factionism, loss of voter base to other parties and frequent switching for power share between the BJP and Congress governments, which is often viewed negatively as a political opportunism.

Uttarakhand Parivartan Party(UPP) :

The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party is a registered unrecognised regional political party in Uttarakhand. It is the first Green party in India.

UPP was formed on January 18, 2009 after two years of grassroots deliberations. The party fielded two candidates in the 2009 parliamentary elections and 15 candidates in the 2012 state assembly elections. UPP is raising awareness about Green politics among the masses, although it is yet to win representation in government.