uttarakhand had turned out incumbent governments in the first two elections held in the state since its formation. the ruling bharatiya janata party fought the election under the leadership of its chief minister b. c. khanduri. the main opposition indian national congress was led in the assembly by harak singh rawat, but no chief ministerial candidate was named before the elections. the interim tenure of former chief minister ramesh pokhriyal, which was marked by large-scale corruption accusations, was likely to be the main election issue.