New Delhi: Ending nearly 10 days of intense speculation, following the election results, the BJP has decided to continue Pushkar Singh Dhami as the chief minister of Uttarakhand. He will take oath on Wednesday, March 23.The BJP legislative party, which met at the party office in Deharadun on Monday, March 21, unanimously voted in favour of Dhami. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi oversaw the process as the party’s central observers.After March 10 election results, in which the BJP won 47 seats in the 70-member assembly, intense speculation emerged due to Dhami losing his own election from the Khatima assembly segment. This led to many seniors in the BJP hoping that the party would give them the coveted post. Several names too did rounds.What worked in Dhami’s favour? Speaking after Dhami’s name was confirmed, Anil Baluni, party national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, said it was under Dhami that the party had contested the elections and became the first in the state to return to power.“We won with a complete majority under Dhami’s leadership. He was travelling outside his constituency too during the elections. So, he could not win his seat.”Baluni added that all the legislators were of the view that they would like Dhami to lead the state again. He said only Dhami’s name was proposed by the central observers before it was unanimously approved by all the legislators.Also read: Uttarakhand: Will the BJP Retain Pushkar Singh Dhami, Who Lost His Seat, As CM?Incidentally, it was Rajnath Singh himself who had dropped the biggest hint that Dhami may be asked to lead the state again when he had last week equated him with cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and described him as a “good finisher”. This had shown what the senior party leadership thought of Dhami’s effort.BJP leaderss Pralhad Joshi, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Kailash Vijayvargiya and others celebrate the partys win in Uttarakhand Assembly polls, in Dehradun, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Photo: PTIAfter Dhami’s loss from Khatima, over half a dozen party legislators had also offered to resign from their seats in his favour.According to Article 164(4) of the constitution, there is no bar on anyone who is not a member of the legislature from becoming a chief minister. It provides that a minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the legislature of the state shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister. So, a person who is not an MLA has to get himself or herself elected to the House within six months of becoming a minister or chief minister.Baluni said the decision on Dhami was also taken because the party wanted the next 10 years to be “the decade of Uttarakhand”. “The time for politics is over. It is now time to take up development further,” he said.MLAs take oathEarlier in the day, the governor of Uttarakhand, Lt.Gen. (Retd) Gurmit Singh administered the oath of pro-tem speaker to the senior-most MLA Bansidhar Bhagat, who then administered the oath to all the newly elected legislators.Also read: BJP Returns to Power in Uttarakhand, Becomes First Party to Get ReelectedThereafter, senior party leaders from Uttarakhand, including BJP state unit president Madan Kaushik; former CMs Vijay Bahuguna, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat; and union minister Ajay Bhatt; and Baluni and Dhami held meetings with the two central observers.Dhami became the youngest chief minister of the state at the age of 45 when he had taken over the reins of the state in July 2021. He is credited with reviving the party’s fortunes in the state as they ebbed last year.First, there were allegations of corruption against the Trivendra Singh Rawat government which led to the CM being replaced with Tirath Singh Rawat in March last year. However, Tirath ran into controversies of his own due to his crass comments on how women should dress up, and his inability to enforce Covid-19 guidelines during the Kumbh Mela in Hardwar. Also, it was revealed that the data on vaccination was fudged by his government. All this had led to Tirath being replaced with Dhami by the party.