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Dharchula Assembly constituency

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Dharchula
Constituency No. 42 for the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
Constituency details
CountryIndia
RegionNorth India
StateUttarakhand
DistrictPithoragarh
Lok Sabha constituencyAlmora
Established2002
Total electors87,747 (2022)[1]
ReservationNone
Member of Legislative Assembly
5th Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
PartyIndian National Congress
Elected year2022
INC is the most successful political party in Dharchula assembly constituency.
  1. INC (4 terms) (66.7%)
  2. IND (2 terms) (33.3%)

Dharchula Legislative Assembly constituency is one of the seventy electoral Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly constituencies of Uttarakhand state in India. It includes Dharchula area of Pithoragarh District.[3] At 5,592.15 square kilometers, it officially ranks as the largest assembly constituency by area in the entire state of Uttarakhand and one of the largest in India.

Dharchula Legislative Assembly constituency is a part of Almora (Lok Sabha constituency). Being a largely rural constituency, Dharchula carries a simulated partisan voting index of INC+2, identifying it as a resilient Congress stronghold within the otherwise competitive Pithoragarh district. While the seat frequently sees narrow margins, it consistently performs roughly 10 to 14 points better for the Indian National Congress (INC) than the Uttarakhand state average, even during significant statewide shifts toward the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has failed to ever win this seat to date, making it the only seat apart from Jaspur in Kumaon division and Chakrata as a hill constituency and one of the few in the state, to have never been won by the BJP.[4]

Area and Extent

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According to the Delimitation Commission of India, the Dharchula Assembly constituency (No. 42) is located within the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand and covers the following geographical areas:[5]

  • Dharchula Tehsil – Including Dharchula border township, Dharchula Dehat, and the surrounding rural mountain settlements.
  • Munsyari Tehsil – Comprising the hill station hub of Munsyari and its associated village blocks.
  • Strategic Valleys – The high-altitude border regions of Darma Valley, Vyas Valley, and Johar Valley.
  • Major Rural Hubs – Key riverine and mountain settlements including Jauljibi, Baluwakot, Bangapani, and Madkot.

Demographics and history

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The regional voting behavior is shaped by the majority of upper caste Hindu voters who make approximately 60% of the electorate, along with dense clusters of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities (14.64% of the population), notably the Bhotia and Van Rawat tribes, alongside a 20.51% Scheduled Caste (SC) voter base. This makes representation a highly sensitive communal issue. Despite Hindus accounting for about 97% of the electorate, the nationalist party BJP still is yet to win this seat. The area is predominantly rural, spanning a massive territorial footprint where 93.73% of the population resides in rural mountain villages and only 6.27% live in urbanized border townships. 14.20% of the total population falls within the 0 to 6 age bracket. Approximately 74.50% of the population falls under 18-59 age category and about 11.3% of population is above 60 years.

Dharchula Assembly constituency was established in 2002, after the formation of Uttarakhand. It was separated from the Didihat Assembly constituency and accounts for roughly 78.8% of the total land area of Pithoragarh district. The seat was initially reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST). In the first election held in 2002, Independent candidate Gangan Singh Rajwar, a member of the endangered Van Rawat tribe, won the election securing over 42% of the vote and defeating Pradyuman Singh of the Indian National Congress by over 26% , thus becoming the first MLA of this seat. His percent margin of 26% remains one of the highest for an independent candidate, not backed by any party in a major election in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate managed to come fifth and won about 6.6% of the total vote. In the Lok Sabha polls held in 2004, the Indian National Congress candidate lead from this segment by a 7 point margin despite losing the Lok Sabha polls narrowly.

In the 2007 assembly polls, Rajwar again ran as an independent nominee after being denied a ticket by the Indian National Congress, which he had joined briefly and won re-election though by a significantly lower margin of 15.32%, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kundan Singh, who managed to significantly improve his performance by mulling about 22% of the total votes. The Congress dropped to third position securing about 11% of the total vote. This would be the last assembly election where a non-Congress candidate would win this assembly constituency. In the Lok Sabha polls held in 2009, the Indian National Congress candidate Pradeep Tamta lead from this segment by a 6 point margin over BJP candidate Ajay Tamta, which proved to be crucial in his narrow victory of under 1 point.

Following the 2008 delimitation, though the physical boundaries of Dharchula assembly constituency remained the same, the reservation of the assembly segment was shifted from ST to a general seat, where any candidate regardless of his caste or position could contest. In the 2012 assembly election, the incumbent Gagan Singh Rajwar decided to run for a third consecutive term, again as an independent, despite the change in reservation. This time however, he won only about 6.26% of the total votes and finished fifth, a sharp contrast to his 2002 performance. Indian National Congress candidate Harish Singh Dhami ultimately won the election securing about 33% of the vote and defeating the BJP candidate by over 11 points, in a three cornered race with UKD veteran Kashi Singh Airy garnering 14% of the vote.

Members of Legislative Assembly

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Election Name Party
2002[6] Gagan Singh Rajwar Independent
2007[7]
2012[8] Harish Singh Dhami Indian National Congress
2014 (By Elect)[9] Harish Rawat
2017[8] Harish Singh Dhami
2022

Recent election results for this constituency from statewide and national races

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Year Office Results[10][11]
2009 Lok Sabha Tamta (INC) 32% – 27%
2012 Assembly Dhami (INC) 33% – 22%
2014 Lok Sabha Tamta (INC) 52% – 40%
Assembly (By-poll) Rawat (INC) 75% – 25%
2017 Assembly Dhami (INC) 48% – 42%
2019 Lok Sabha Tamta (BJP) 62% – 35%
2022 Assembly Dhami (INC) 48% – 46%
2024 Lok Sabha Tamta (BJP) 62% – 31%

Election results

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Assembly Election 2022

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2022 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election: Dharchula[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
INC Harish Singh Dhami 27,007 47.95% Increase0.67
BJP Dhan Singh Dhami (Dhan Da) 25,889 45.96% Increase4.38
Independent Jeevan Singh Thakur 825 1.46% New
AAP Narayan Ram 643 1.14% New
Independent Kailash Singh Pangtey 575 1.02% New
NOTA None of the above 406 0.72% Decrease0.20
UKD Ramesh Singh 406 0.72% Decrease0.91
BSP Govind Ram 394 0.70% Decrease0.12
SP Manju Devi 180 0.32% New
Margin of victory 1,118 1.98% Decrease3.71
Turnout 56,325 62.03% Decrease0.60
Registered electors 90,798 Increase5.04
INC hold Swing Increase0.67

Assembly Election 2017

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2017 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election: Dharchula[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
INC Harish Singh Dhami 25,597 47.28% Decrease27.35
BJP Virendra Singh Pal 22,512 41.58% Increase16.21
Independent Durga Prashad 2,717 5.02% New
UKD Lal Singh 883 1.63% New
Independent Devindra Singh 631 1.17% New
Independent Virendra Singh 540 1.00% New
NOTA None of the above 500 0.92% Decrease1.54
BSP Jitendra Kumar 445 0.82% New
Margin of victory 3,085 5.70% Decrease43.57
Turnout 54,140 62.63% Increase11.29
Registered electors 86,441 Increase6.10
INC hold Swing Decrease27.35

Assembly By-election 2014

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2014 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly by-election: Dharchula[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
INC Harish Rawat 31,214 74.63% Increase41.68
BJP Bishnu Dutt Joshi 10,610 25.37% Increase3.52
NOTA None of the above 1,028 2.46% New
Margin of victory 20,604 49.26% Increase38.15
Turnout 41,824 52.61% Decrease14.30
Registered electors 81,469 Increase11.98
INC hold Swing Increase41.68

Assembly Election 2012

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2012 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election: Dharchula[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
INC Harish Singh Dhami 15,739 32.96% Increase21.36
BJP Khushal Singh 10,433 21.85% Decrease1.20
UKD Kashi Singh Airy 6,685 14.00% Increase3.95
BSP Rajendara Singh Kutiyal 4,389 9.19% Increase2.23
Independent Gagan Singh Rajwar 2,990 6.26% New
URM Virendra Singh Pal 2,347 4.91% New
CPI(ML)L Jagat Martolia 1,864 3.90% Increase2.50
Independent Shankar Lal 1,131 2.37% New
Independent Laxmi Datt Pant 627 1.31% New
Independent Jewan Singh Danu 479 1.00% New
Independent Govind Singh 374 0.78% New
UKPP Dinesh Singh 361 0.76% New
Margin of victory 5,306 11.11% Decrease4.21
Turnout 47,757 65.64% Increase2.31
Registered electors 72,755 Increase32.84
INC gain from Independent Swing Decrease5.41

Assembly Election 2007

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2007 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election: Dharchula[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Gagan Singh Rajwar 13,308 38.37% New
BJP Kundan Singh 7,995 23.05% Increase16.44
INC Shakuntala Devi 4,022 11.60% Decrease4.24
UKD Lal Singh 3,485 10.05% Increase0.38
BSP Rajendara Singh Kutiyal 2,415 6.96% Increase5.44
Independent Virendra Singh 1,538 4.43% New
AIFB Hoshiyar Singh 935 2.70% New
Shivsena Chandra Singh 502 1.45% New
CPI(ML)L Jagat Singh (Jagat Martoliya) 486 1.40% New
Margin of victory 5,313 15.32% Decrease11.37
Turnout 34,686 63.38% Increase8.60
Registered electors 54,767 Increase1.67
Independent hold Swing Decrease4.16

Assembly Election 2002

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2002 Uttaranchal Legislative Assembly election: Dharchula[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Gagan Singh Rajwar 12,537 42.52% New
INC Pradyuman Singh 4,670 15.84% New
UKD Rajendra Singh Raipa 2,849 9.66% New
Independent Hoshiyar Singh 2,526 8.57% New
BJP Goverdhan Singh 1,950 6.61% New
Independent Puran Singh Chalal 1,208 4.10% New
Independent Harish Chandra Singh Rawat 1,024 3.47% New
Uttarakhand Janwadi Party Mahendra Singh Budiyal 829 2.81% New
Independent Jagdish Singh 776 2.63% New
BSP Dham Singh Tolia 449 1.52% New
NCP Ganga Singh Pangatey 399 1.35% New
SP Dan Singh 266 0.90% New
Margin of victory 7,867 26.68%
Turnout 29,483 54.80%
Registered electors 53,869
Independent win (new seat)

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "लोक सभा सामान्य निर्वाचन-2019 मतदेय स्थलों/ सामान्य एवं सर्विस मतदाताओं का विवरण । (Lok Sabha General Election-2019 Details of polling places/general and service voters.)" (PDF). 19 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Dharchula - Uttarakhand Assembly Election Results 2017". India.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Dharchula Assembly Constituency Map, Dharchula Vidhan Sabha 2017 Previous Election Results". Maps Of India. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  4. ↑ https://www.indiastatpublications.com/assembly_factbook/uttarakhand/almora/dharchula
  5. ↑ "Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  6. ↑ Election Commission of India (2002). Statistical Report On General Election, 2002 To The Legislative Assembly Of Uttaranchal (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Name of Assembly Constituency" (PDF). 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Dharchula" (PDF). election.uk.gov.in. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 March 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Declaration of Result" (PDF). election.uk.gov.in. 25 July 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "IndiaVotes AC Dharchula".
  11. ↑ (https://www.indiastatpublications.com/pdf_Samples/assembly_factbook/uttarakhand/Almora/Dharchula-Assembly-Factbook.pdf
  12. ↑ "Uttarakhand State General Assembly Elections 2022 - AC-Wise Detailed Result (Form-20)". Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Uttarakhand State General Assembly Elections 2017 - AC-Wise Detailed Result (Form-20)". Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Declaration of Result" (PDF). election.uk.gov.in. 25 July 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  15. ↑ "Uttarakhand State General Assembly Elections 2012 - AC-Wise Detailed Result (Form-20)". Chief Electoral Officer, Uttarakhand. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 2007 to the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (pdf) on 14 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 2002 to the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (pdf) on 14 January 2012.
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29°51′N 80°32′E / 29.85°N 80.54°E / 29.85; 80.54

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