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BJP sweeps Haryana civic elections, 9 of 10 mayoral candidates in lead
In south Haryana, BJP rebel and independent candidate Inderjit Yadav left many shocked in Manesar that is witnessing the mayoral election for the first time. Yadav defeated BJP’s Sunder Lal Sarpanch by 2,293 votes, while the Congress nominee was pushed to the fourth spot.
The mayoral candidate of the BJP won the Ambala municipal corporation and party nominees were leading in nine of the 10 civic bodies in Haryana as counting of votes got underway on Wednesday.
The elections for the urban local bodies was held on March 2 and March 9 (in Panipat) and counting of votes started at 8am on Wednesday.
According to the results declared so far, BJP candidate Shailja Sachdeva won the bypoll for the post of mayor for the Ambala municipal corporation defeating Amisha Chawla of the Congress by 20,487 votes.
In Karnal, Union minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s loyalist Renu Bala Gupta (BJP) defeated Manoj Kumar Wadhwa of the Congress. She won with a margin of 25,359 votes for the third consecutive time.
In south Haryana, BJP rebel and independent candidate Dr Inderjit Yadav left many shocked in Manesar that is witnessing the mayoral election for the first time. Yadav defeated BJP’s Sunder Lal Sarpanch by 2,293 votes, while the Congress nominee was pushed to the fourth spot.
For the high-stake Gurugram seat, the BJP emerged victorious as its candidate Raj Rani won by 1.79 lakh votes in a direct contest with Seema Pahuja of the Congress.
In Faridabad, the largest district of Haryana, BJP’s Parveen Joshi defeated Lata Rani of the Congress by 3.16 lakh votes. Joshi polled 4.16 lakh votes, while Rani managed to get 1 lakh votes.
Counting is underway in Yamunanagar, where Suman of the BJP was ahead of Kirna Devi of the Congress by 47,664 votes at 1pm. In Panipat, BJP’s Komal Saini maintained a lead of 1.21 lakh votes over Savita Garg of the Congress.
Counting is also underway for the municipal councils in Ambala Sadar, Pataudi-Jatauli Mandi, Thanesar, Sirsa, Sohna (byelection), and 21 other municipal councils. Byelections for the post of president in Assandh and Ismailabad municipal councils were also held.
A total of 26 ward members have already been elected unopposed. Among them, Kuldeep Singh (Faridabad), Vikas Yadav (Gurugram), Sankalp Bhandari and Sanjeev Kumar Mehta (Karnal), and Bhavna (Yamunanagar) were elected unopposed in their respective wards in municipal corporations.
Three ward members were elected unopposed in Ambala Sadar and Thanesar, while 18 others won unopposed in municipal committees across the state.
The overall voter turnout on both days (March 2 and 9) was disappointing at 41% as compared to 68% for the assembly elections last October.
