Uttarakhand Kranti Dal

The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal or UKD, (Hindi: उत्तराखण्ड क्रान्ति दल), translation: Uttarakhand Revolutionary Party, is a regional political party in India. It bills itself as the only regional party of the Uttarakhand in contrast to the national parties that dominate the state's politics.

In the present Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, elected in 2012, it has only one member as compared with three members in the previous 2007 and four members in 2002 assembly elections of the state.

History

The UKD was established on 26 July 1979 by Bipin Chandra Tripathi, Dr. D. D. Pant, Kashi Singh Airy and Indramani Badoni at Nanital to fight for a separate state composed of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. The founding convention was chaired by Dr. D. D. Pant, former vice-chancellor of Kumaon University. Under the young leadership of Kashi Singh Airy who took the charge of struggle and public agitation and the aim was finally achieved, when the separate Uttaranchal state was formed on 9 November 2000, later renamed Uttarakhand in 2007. However, in the first ever state assembly elections in 2002, the party won only four out of 70 seats, and was outmaneuvered by the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, both despite being late comers to the separate state movement, succeeded in capturing its momentum for electoral gain and formed governments in the state