Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat late on Friday night submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya at Raj Bhawan, Dehradun, reports news agency ANI. 

This comes amid speculation over a change of leadership in the state as Tirath Singh earlier on Friday indicated that the BJP will wait for the Election Commission’s decision on holding a bypoll in the state. 

There was speculation that the Election Commission might not hold a bypoll election enabling Rawat’s election to the state assembly.

Tirath Singh needed to elected as an MLA in the next two months to continues as the CM of Uttarakhand. According to the Constitution, Tirath Singh Rawat, who is an MP from Pauri Garhwal, needs to become a member of the state assembly before September 10 to continue in office.

He took over as the CM of Uttarakhand on March 10 after the Bharatiya Janata Party removed Trivendra Singh Rawat from the helm.

The buzz of leadership change in Uttarakhand was fuelled after Tirath Singh Rawat was summoned in Delhi on Wednesday and when he met the BJP’s top leaders including party president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The BJP leader was supposed to return back to Haridwar but stayed back in the national captial

After meeting JP Nadda on Friday, Tirath Singh Rawat said that it is the EC’s prerogative to hold or not conduct the bypoll, and the party will move forward accordingly, PTI reported.