 |  | | BC Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal, whom he replaced as chief minister months before the elections, after the results on Tuesday. Khanduri lost but Pokhriyal scraped through. (PTI) | New Delhi, March 6: Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri was today humbled in Uttarakhand where he was brought in to shore up the BJP's fortunes, but his party managed to bag 31 seats to the Congress's 32. Brought in as chief minister four months before the election in place of Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Khanduri lost to the Congress's S. Negi in Kotdwar by 4,632 votes. But Nishank scraped through in Doiwala, defeating the Congress's Heera Singh Bisht by a little over 1,000 votes. Khanduri's valiant fight led to a hung House in the hill state, where the field is now open for horse-trading to win over Independents and smaller parties to form government. The majority mark is 36 in the 70-member House. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Independents, all Congress rebels, won 3 seats each and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal one. Sources said the Independents and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal are likely to tilt to the Congress than the BJP. But the BJP is not ready to give up, and along with the Congress, has declared that it would stake claim to form government. "We are confident of forming the government in the state," Congress MP Harish Rawat, the chief minister candidate, said. The high points of the Uttarakhand verdict were the nail-biting finish and the irony of Khanduri — he is known to be honest — losing and Nishank, removed by the BJP on charges of corruption, winning. Khanduri was anointed chief minister four months before the polls when the BJP brass realised there was no hope under Nishank. Central BJP leaders today privately acknowledged the party would have been wiped out in Uttarakhand had Khanduri not been projected at the last moment. The punchline of the BJP's campaign in Uttarakhand was "Khanduri hai zaroori" (Khanduri is essential) and huge posters of him were put up across the state to draw voters. "The neck-and-neck fight is all courtesy Khanduri. We would be nowhere had Nishank remained the chief minister. It is unfortunate that Khanduri has lost and Nishank has won," a senior BJP leader said. Despite his defeat, a calm and composed Khanduri appeared before the people in Dehra Dun and thanked them for voting BJP. "I am thankful to the people of the state and my party leaders and workers for the verdict. I am an army man and do not get disheartened by defeats," the retired major general said. "I did not have any magic wand but I tried to do my best during this short period of 3 months and 14 days," he said. | 
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