The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday retained its foothold in Uttaranchal by winning three of the five Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The party received a setback only in Hardwar, where its sitting MP Harpal Singh Sathi came a poor third. Rajendra Kumar of the Samajwadi Party win the seat comfortably.

The BJP had won four of the five seats in the 1999 general election.

Union Transport and Highways Minister B C Khanduri, retained his Pauri-Garhwal seat. He defeated Uttaranchal Tourism Minister Lt Gen (retd) T P S Rawat by a margin of 50,962 votes.

In Almora, the BJP's candidate and Union Minister of Science and Technology Bachi Singh Rawat defeated his Congress opponent Renuka Rawat, wife of Pradesh Congress Committee president Harish Rawat, by 10,052 votes.

The BJP's Maharaja Manbendra Singh won the Tehri Garhwal seat for the eighth time in a row by a margin of 17,446 votes. He beat Vijay Bahuguna of the Congress for the second consecutive time.

However, the Congress retained the Nainital seat, where its candidate K C Singh Baba defeated Vijay Bansal (BJP) by 49,184 votes.