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BJP’s Banto wins on home turf, says ‘Panchkula voted for development’
After 16 rounds of counting in the Kalka assembly segment, where 1.35 lakh exercised their franchise out of 2 lakh voters, Banto secured 69,257 votes against Congress candidate Varun Chaudhary who got 58,412 votes
Riding on the development card, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Banto Kataria managed to win in her home district but lost in the Ambala parliamentary constituency on Tuesday. Stepping into an electoral battle for the first time, Banto had sought votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi even though the “Modi wave” was missing this election.
Banto, a lawyer by profession and wife of three-time MP Rattan Lal Kataria who died in 2023, lives in Mansa Devi complex in Panchkula. The BJP leader from round one of the counting had maintained a lead in the Panchkula district, which comprises two assembly segments—Kalka and Panchkula.
After 16 rounds of counting in the Kalka assembly segment, where 1.35 lakh exercised their franchise out of 2 lakh voters, Banto secured 69,257 votes against Congress candidate Varun Chaudhary who got 58,412 votes.
While in Panchkula, where out of 2.32 lakh voters, 1.41 lakh exercised their franchise, Banto bagged 79,172 votes while Chaudhary received 58,251 votes after 15 rounds of counting.
“People voted for development in Panchkula and were not misled by Congress,” said Banto. This election of Banto was seen as the litmus test of BJP MLAs Gian Chand Gupta (Panchkula), Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt) and Aseem Goyal (Ambala City).
However, Banto lost to her Congress rival in the Ambala City assembly segment from where Aseem Goyal is the MLA. However, the saffron party had an edge in the Ambala Cantt assembly segment from where Anil Vij is the MLA.
In Ambala city, the BJP candidate got 73,099 votes, while the Congress candidate got 78,798 votes, winning the assembly segment by 5,699 votes. While in Ambala Cantt, Banto got 61,177 votes while Chaudhary got 58,200. BJP here won by 2,977 votes. It may be mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in support of Kataria in Ambala.
Congress in Panchkula failed to capture the urban vote and even keep the infighting under check. Despite having an MLA in Kalka, Congress could not win the assembly segment owing to anti-incumbency.
Fared very well in Panchkula: Gupta
Haryana assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta said, “We have fared very well in Panchkula and people have voted for development carried out in the last 10 years.”
He added, “For the first time, the BJP won in the Labour Colony and villages where we were weak.” Talking about why the BJP could not cash in on the “development” poll pitch, Gupta said, “Ambala bore the brunt of farmer agitation.”
The BJP office, Panchkamal, in Panchkula, wore a deserted look by the evening as trends showed Congress leading in Ambala constituency. Even though the Congress lost in the Kalka assembly segment, the party supporters led by Kalka MLA Pradeep Chaudhry celebrated and distributed laddoos before results were declared. The Congress workers even took out a victory march in Ambala. However, the party candidate did not participate.
