DEHRA DUN, March 6 (IANS): The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were running neck-and-neck as results poured in for the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly.
According to the trends at 12.30 p.m., the ruling BJP and the Congress were leading in 31 seats each and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in two.
Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Panwar led by Trivendra Singh Panwar was leading in one seat and others in five.
Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri was leading over S.S. Negi of the Congress from Kotdwar seat by a little less than 500 votes.
State BJP president Bishan Singh Chufal was leading over his closest rival, Congress' Rewati Joshi, by some 4,000 votes from Didihaat constituency.
Congress leader and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, however, expressed confidence that his party will form the government in the hill state.
"The Congress will form the government in Uttarakhand, that I am confident," said Rawat.
The BJP also expressed confidence of retaining power in the state.
"We are coming back to power in Uttarakhand," BJP MP from the state, Anurag Thakur told a TV channel.
"There are only 70 seats, one or two seats will make a big difference. We will be in position to form a government in Uttarakhand," Thakur told NDTV.
