2 serving, 5 former chief ministers bite the dust

The assembly poll results on Thursday brought gloom for several political heavyweights, including two current and five former chief ministers, who lost the electoral battle from their respective seats.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Singh Dhami lost the polls from the seats they held respectively.

A similar fate awaited former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Singh Rawat and former Punjab chief ministers Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh.

Even though Dhami has lost the electoral battle, his party is heading for a victory in Uttarakhand.

In Punjab, where the Aam Aadmi Party is set to sweep the polls, as many as three former chief ministers -- Badal, Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal -- have lost the election from their respective pocket boroughs.

Chief Minister Channi has lost the poll battle from both Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib.

Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal has also lost the election to his AAP rival.

Most of the current and former ministers of the Punjab government have lost the poll battle to the AAP candidates.

In Goa, former chief minister and Trinamool Congress nominee Churchill Alemao lost the election from Benaulim to the AAP nominee.

Both the deputy chief ministers lost the poll contest to their Congress rivals, though their party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is on the course to emerge as the single-largest political formation in the coastal state.

Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar was defeated by Leader of Opposition and Congress candidate Digambar Kamat, while another deputy Chief Minister, Chandrakant Kavlekar, lost to Congress candidate Altone D'Costa from Quepem.

The counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur Assembly polls is going on amid tight security arrangements.