Bharatiya Janata Party's Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday in Dehradun.
He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Uttarakhand on Monday, paving the way for his taking over the reins of the state for a second time.
Dhami, who lost from the Khatima assembly constituency in Uttarakhand, led the party's poll campaign in the state as chief minister during the assembly polls held last month.
The results were announced on 10 March and there was speculation if he would be the CM for a second time.
However, a section of BJP leaders credited Dhami for the party's big win, bagging 47 out of 70 assembly seats, and wanted him to be the chief minister again so that he gets a full five-year term.
Several names, including former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Union minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt, Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni, MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Uttarakhand tourism minister Satpal Maharaj, were doing the rounds as possible choices for the CM post.
Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri from Khatima by a margin of 6,579 votes in the state polls. He got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8% against Kapri who got 48,177 with 51.89% votes. He had won twice from the seat.
The son of an ex-serviceman, Dhami was born in 1975 in Kanalichhina village in Pithoragarh district. He had also been with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), besides being a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Dhami served as the president of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Uttarakhand twice between 2002 and 2008. He is believed to be a protege of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Dhami will be the 13th chief minister of the hilly state. He belongs to the Kumaun region. The last two CMs before him were from the Garhwal region.
