Hopeful of retaining power in this hill state, BJP is banking on the "clean image" of its current Chief Minister B C Khanduri, who replaced Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. BJP central leadership had to replace Nishank in the wake of various corruption charges against him.
With 36 members in the current state assembly, BJP is also confident that its number will increase. The party is also confident that its ally Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) will also win its seats.
Uttarakhand assembly has 70 seats. The main opposition in the state is Congress with 21 MLAs.
These assembly elections in the state, first after implementation of delimitation, have also increased the urban constituencies. BJP is also banking on the urban votes along with its Thakur, Brahmin and Baniya vote bank.
While the BJP has repeated most of its sitting MLAs, it is bound to face some difficulty as 10 MLAs including minister Khajan Das were denied tickets. While internal dissidence is something that the BJP has been battling against throughout its present term in the state, party top brass feels with the recent change in leadership it has managed to put a check on it.
Also, the party is confident that "people-centric" schemes implemented by the state government will help in increasing its vote percentage as compared to the last assembly polls. UPA’s failure to keep a check on price rise and corruption cases under it, are the main poll plank of BJP in the state.