In Uttarakhand, Congress' Harish Rawat Sure Of Win, Adds A Warning

Accusing the ruling BJP of trying to engineer defections to cobble up numbers in Uttarakhand, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat told NDTV, "Beware, poachers are here."

With the counting of votes in the hill state underway, the Congress leader expressed confidence that the party will come to power with a comfortable margin.

"We are getting a good majority. The results of the areas where we are getting maximum support are not reflecting. In this election, voters will defeat the arrogance of BJP. This is an election of arrogance versus Uttarakhandiyat," he said.

The former Chief Minister stressed that this election is a fight for protecting the state's identity, which he described as "Uttarakhandiyat", and said he has full faith in the people of the state.

Many exit polls have predicted a hung assembly in Uttarakhand. This raises the possibility of a big role for Independents and marginal players like AAP, SP, BSP and the UKD in government formation. The BJP and Congress are locked in straight contests on 40 to 45 of the 60 seats, while the regional outfits make the fight triangular on 25-30 seats.

Determined to not let the BJP outsmart them, the Congress has rushed senior leaders to the states that have gone to polls to keep party legislators together and explore alliance options in case no party ends up with a majority.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deepender Hooda, former Karnataka minister MB Patil and Mohan Prakash have been sent to keep the Congress flock together.

The ruling BJP too has expressed confidence about winning.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said the party's numbers will be more than that predicted by exit polls.

"Most exit polls have shown the BJP government again forming in Uttarakhand. Our actual numbers will be more than what has been projected by the exit polls, and the party will form a majority government... People have given the certificate of the work done by the BJP in the state," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.