Dehradun, March 23 -- Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami retained control of over a dozen crucial departments on Sunday as the Uttarakhand government allocated portfolios to its expanded cabinet, aiming to streamline governance ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh, acting on the chief minister's advice, issued a formal notification under the Uttarakhand Business (Allocation) Rules, 2003. The order redistributes portfolios among the Council of Ministers and supersedes all previous allocations from 2022, 2023, and 2025. The government expanded its cabinet on March 20, inducting five MLAs: Bhimtal's Ram Singh Kaira, Rajpur's Khajan Das, Haridwar's Madan Kaushik, Roorkee's Pradeep Batra, and Rudraprayag's Bharat Singh Chaudhary. The move fills five vacancies in Dhami's cabinet. Three posts stayed vacant after the BJP's 2022 re-election; two more opened after minister Chandan Ram Das's death in 2023 and Premchand Aggarwal's resignation in March 2025. Dhami retained Personnel and Vigilance, Secretariat Administration, Planning, State Property, Information, Home, Prisons, Civil Defence and Home Guards, Revenue, Industrial Development and Mining, Council of Ministers, Labour, Drinking Water, Energy and Alternative Energy, Excise, Justice, Civil Aviation, Finance, Commercial Tax, Stamp and Registration, and Housing. Satpal Maharaj received Public Works Department (PWD), Rural Construction, Culture, Religious Affairs, Tourism, Irrigation, Minor Irrigation, and General Administration. Ganesh Joshi took Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Agricultural Education and Marketing, Horticulture and Food Processing, Sericulture Development, and Sainik Welfare. Dhan Singh Rawat got Basic and Secondary School Education, Sanskrit Education, Higher Education, Technical Education, and Cooperatives. Subodh Uniyal handles Forest, Election, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, and Medical Health and Medical Education. Rekha Arya oversees Women Empowerment and Child Development, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Sports, and Youth Welfare. Saurabh Bahuguna leads Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries, Sugarcane Development and Sugar Industry, Protocol, and Skill Development and Employment. Khajan Das manages Social Welfare, Minority Welfare, Student Welfare, and Language. Bharat Singh Chaudhary is in charge of Rural Development, MSME, and Khadi and Village Industries. Madan Kaushik oversees Panchayati Raj, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, AYUSH and AYUSH Education, Reorganisation, and Census. Pradeep Batra handles Transport, Information Technology and Good Governance (Suraj), Science and Technology, and Biotechnology. Ram Singh Kaira received Urban Development, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, and Watershed Management. Per the notification signed by chief secretary Anand Vardhan, any unassigned department remains under the CM's direct authority. Dhami said, "The past four years of our government have been dedicated to service, good governance, and public welfare. In keeping with this commitment, portfolios have now been allocated among all my cabinet colleagues-including the newly inducted members."...