Panchkula and Ambala set to get new mayors, councillors

Counting of votes will start at 8am and results are expected to be declared by 1pm

The six mayoral candidates and 83 others in the fray for 20 councillor seats along with around 1.03 lakh people who voted for them in the Panchkula municipal corporation elections will come to know the outcome on Wednesday.

District election officer Mukesh Kumar Ahuja said the counting of votes will start at Government Post Graduate Women’s College, Sector 14, at 8 am. The results are expected to be declared by 1pm.

“Necessary arrangements have been made. Separate tables have been set up for counting votes polled for the mayor and councillors. No agent can carry mobile phone, stationery or other items in the counting hall,” he said.

Meanwhile, all candidates have been directed to disclose their total expenditure in the election process within 30 days from the date of declaration of results.

Elections to the Panchkula MC took place two years after the first House was dissolved. It is for the first time there is a direct contest for the post of mayor, and elections are taking place in a bifurcated MC, as Kalka and Pinjore were separated from its limits earlier this year.

In is mainly a two-cornered contest for the mayoral post with former incumbent Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia of the Congress taking on the BJP’s Kulbhushan Goyal. The contest is expected to be a close one due to a low voter turnout. Of 1.86 lakh voters, only 55.9% turned up on Sunday, the lowest turnout among the three MCs in Haryana that went to the polls.

In the first election held in 2013, the Congress won the mayor’s post and majority in the House with 12 seats. The BJP and INLD won three each and two seats went to Independent candidates.

In Ambala, counting of votes will start around 8am at OPS Vidya Mandir in Sector 9.

Polling on Sunday saw 56.3% of the electorate coming out to vote for the six mayoral candidates besides 101 in the fray for 20 councillor’s seats from as many wards.

Returning officer Sachin Gupta said 24 tables have been placed for counting of votes. Votes polled for the mayor will be counted on 14 tables and the remaining will be used for counting councillors’ votes.

The city witnessed a multi-cornered contest as BJP-JJP coalition’s mayoral candidate Vandana Sharma and Congress’ Meena Aggarwal faced challenge from Shakti Rani Sharma and Amisha Chawla, candidates of parties floated by former ministers Venod Sharma (HJP) and Nirmal Singh (HDF), respectively.

Rural booths saw nearly 70% turnout, and political analysts feel the ongoing farmers’ protests might have an impact on the results.