Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat had been facing a slew of charges against him since 2015. After facing a trust vote in May 2016, he had managed to save his position with a narrow margin. However, the mandate of the people is clear in the 2017 elections result.
Rawat has lost both the seats he was contesting -- Haridwar rural and Kiccha.
In May 2016, several Congress MLAs had defected from the party after the state budget was passed despite there being opposition against it. Rawat was able to reinstate his government only after Supreme Court disqualified those MLAs. In 2015, a sting video was also released by the BJP against three top leaders of the state unit.
The BJP claimed that Rawat and his personal secretary were involved in a liquor scam and loot after the devastating floods and landslides in 2013.
Also read: Uttarakhand election result 2017 live: BJP wins 13 seats, Congress wins 3 seats
"Instead of taking the advantage of central schemes and utilising the development funds allocated by it, the state government kept itself busy with scams and shouting slogans against the Centre," BJP's Radha Mohan Singh had said in February. The state government reportedly spent only Rs 10 crore out of Rs 36.74 crore allocated under the National Agriculture Development Scheme in 2014-15 and Rs 15 crore out of Rs 54.4 crore allocated in 2016-17.
In December 2016, the BJP also accused Rawat of being involved in a land acquisition scam. He had allegedly appropriated land meant for National Highway 74 in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Uttarakhand was also in a state of crisis for months due to a political impasse in 2016 when there was no government after MLAs defected to join the BJP.
Rawat is also accused of not effectively handling distribution of compensation to those affected by the 2013 floods. As many as 1,100 people were missing or killed in the floods, but families of several victims were not issued compensation as the Uttarakhand government had not issued death certificates.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his rallies during the election campaign, promised growth and development in the state. He has been able to capture the imagination of people and has been able to assure them that employment, agriculture and development will be a part of the agenda when they come to power.
