The Congress on Thursday said it is going to form the government in Uttarakhand claiming it will win at least 40 seats in the 70-member state assembly. ”We are getting a minimum 40 and a maximum of 48 seats in the state with over 42 percent vote share, 10 percent more than what we got in 2017 elections,” PCC general secretary (organization) Mathuradutt Joshi said here. Out of the 29 seats of the Kumaon region, the Congress will get at least 18 seats while it will also get a major chunk out of 30 seats located in three districts of Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar, he claimed. ”We are also doing well on seats located in the hilly districts of Garhwal including Uttarkashi, Pauri, Chamoli, and Rudraprayag as people in these districts have voted for employment,” he said. The Congress leader said the indicators which have emerged after the February 14 polling have shown that people have voted en masse for the Congress party. ”After these indicators emerged, several BJP leaders have come to congratulate us, we are also getting feelers from senior bureaucrats in the state that Congress is forming government in the state,” said Joshi.

”Even pre-election indicators favored Congress party, as the gathering in Rahul Gandhi’s meeting was three times more than that the turnout at Narendra Modi’s in Dehradun. The gathering at Priyanka Gandhi’s rally was also spontaneous,” he said. The Congress’ promises about removing unemployment, bringing down inflation and not letting the LPG cylinder price exceed Rs 500 appears to have worked in favour of the party, he said. Moreover, failure of governance reflected in the change of two BJP chief ministers in quick succession has also worked against the saffron party, he said. ”After Congress comes to power, the big initiative will be taken to create lakhs of jobs in the state, filling all vacancies and creating employment opportunities in rural areas to reduce migration from there,” said Joshi.

.