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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna won the Sitarganj Assembly seat by a record margin of 39,954 votes on Wednesday over his nearest BJP rival Prakash Pant. Bahuguna’s win is the highest in all assembly elections in Uttarakhand so far, electoral officials said. At the end of the last round of counting of votes, Bahuguna won 39,954 votes to beat Pant, a former cabinet minister, said Radha Raturi, Chief Electoral Officer. Sitarganj by-election was held on July 8 to decide Bahuguna’s fate, as he had to win to continue in office. The by-election was necessitated after BJP MLA Kiran Mandal quit in favour of Bahuguna. Immediately after the results were announced, Bahuguna thanked the people of Sitarganj for giving him a big win, and said he would work for the overall development of Uttarakhand, and particularly Sitarganj. The Sitarganj by-election was marred by allegations of rigging, leading the state election office to order an inquiry by the district magistrate to verify them.

Uttarakhand CM Bahuguna wins Sitarganj Assembly seat