The 2025 Pithoragarh Municipal Corporation election was a municipal election to the Pithoragarh Municipal Corporation which governs Pithoragarh City, the largest hill city in Uttarakhand. It was held on 23 January 2025. It was won by Kapana Devlal of BJP who defeated Congress rebel and Congress MLA Mayukh Mahar backed candidate Monika Mahar by just 17 votes in a very close election. It was one of the closest races in the state. Incidentally, total number of spoiled ballot (134) exceeded almost 8 times of the margin.
Despite winning the mayor post, BJP won just 5 out of 40 ward members. Independent or Congress backed candidates won in 35 seats.
Election schedule The election schedule was announced by the state election commission on 23 December 2024. Poll Event Schedule Notification Date 27 December 2024 Last Date for filing nomination 30 December 2024 Scrutiny of nomination 31 December 2024 Last Date for Withdrawal of nomination 2 January 2025 Allotment of Symbols 3 January 2025 Date of Poll23 January 2025 Date of Counting of Votes25 January 2025
Major Candidates Mayoral election No.PartySymbolCandidate's Name 1 Bharatiya Janata Party Kalpana Deolal 2 Indian National Congress Anju Lunthi3 Independent Monika Mahar
Ward-wise candidates Ward No.Ward Name BJP INC1Bajeti2New Bajeti3Nirada4KumorAsha Devi5PiyanaRajendra Tamta6Takana ColonyVikram Valmiki7Shiv ViharVinod Rawat8Linthuda9Jakhani10BinSaroj Devi11BhatkoteAshish Havord12Rai13Pandey Gaon14Padampur ColonyPrithviraj Bisht15BhadelbadaGopal Singh Rana16ChandrabhagaLalita Joshi 17DumkhaniDeepak Mahar18New TildhukriNeeraj Kothari19Krishnapuri20Jagdamba ColonyAnita Samant21Kujoli22Jagriti ColonyLalit Pant23ShivalayaShivani Saini24Purana Bazaar Mohammad Sarfaraz25Naya BazaarUmesh Lal Shah26Simalgair Kavindra Shah27Pithrota28AincholiKamala Pandey29PankotBhupendra Singh Belal30DaulaSaraswati Devi31Western Cinemaline32Eastern CinemalineAnshu Negi33DhanaudaBhawana Kapri34Neda BastiDinesh Kapri35Puneri36Sera ChandakHarish Bora37Old Tildhukri 38Malla JakhaniSuman Dhami39KhadkotRavindra Singh Basera40VivekanandPraveen Singh Uprari
Predictions
Because the election was a highly localized municipal body contest, no formal, scientific opinion surveys, sample-based tracking polls, or exit poll aggregations were conducted by national agencies or major statistical polling organizations. Ground-level assessments were driven exclusively by local journalistic consensus, candidate-sponsored internal campaign assessments, and independent ward analyses.
However, locals agreed that the election was close with no one with a definite lead. Analysts also pointed that the Congress would have been at the forefront to a win had Monika Mahar got the ticket.
Poll / Assessment source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error KalpanaDeolal MonikaMahar AnjuLunthi Undecided /OtherLocal Media Consensus ArchiveJanuary 18–21, 2025Ground AssessmentN/A36%36%21%7%Independent Ward Tracking GroupJanuary 12–15, 2025Voice of PithoragarhN/A34%34%24%8%
Mayoral Primary Consensus (BJP Ticket Assessment) Assessment source Date(s)administered Focus Group Area KalpanaDeolal UmaPande PramilaBohra UndecidedInternal Party Assessment SurveyDecember 24–27, 2024Pithoragarh Votes42%29%18%11%
Mayoral Primary Consensus (Congress Ticket Assessment) Assessment source Date(s)administered Focus Group Area MonikaMahar AnjuLunthi UndecidedDistrict Congress Committee TrackingDecember 29, 2024 – January 2, 2025Pithoragarh Votes59%31%10%
Mayoral election Poll / Assessment source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error KalpanaDeolal (BJP) MonikaMahar (INC) Undecided /OtherLocal Media Consensus ArchiveJanuary 18–21, 2025Ground AssessmentN/A36%55%9%
Results Mayoral election
Results by party PartySeatsContested Won+/−Bharatiya Janata Party205NewIndian National Congress10NewIndependents14035NewNOTANewTotal16140New
See also 2025 Uttarakhand local elections 2025 Dehradun Municipal Corporation election 2025 Roorkee Municipal Corporation election 2025 Haridwar Municipal Corporation election 2025 Haldwani Municipal Corporation election 2025 Rudrapur Municipal Corporation election 2025 Kotdwar Municipal Corporation election 2025 Rishikesh Municipal Corporation election 2025 Almora Municipal Corporation election 2025 Kashipur Municipal Corporation election 2025 Srinagar Municipal Corporation election
References
Notes
External links State Election Commission