Tirath Singh Rawat on Wednesday sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. This came a day after the resignation of former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Tirath Singh Rawar was picked over prime candidates including Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Uttarakhand Minister Dhan Singh Rawat at a meeting of Uttarakhand BJP's legislature party held on Tuesday. A BJP MP from the Pauri constituency, the 56-year-old was the chief of the party in Uttarakhand in 2013-15. After taking over as the new Chief Minister of the state, he said, "I thank PM, HM and party chief who trusted me, a mere party worker who comes from a small village."

Tirath Singh Rawat is currently the BJP national secretary and the Lok Sabha MP. He defeated his rival Manish Khanduri (Congress) by over 3 lakh votes in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Assembly elections are likely to take place in the state early next year. In the 2017 polls, the BJP clinched 57 out of the state’s 69 seats, increasing its tally by 26. The Congress, meanwhile, gone down from 32 to 11.