The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored a resounding win in Haryana Municipal Corporation (MC) elections by bagging all the five mayoral seats with massive margins and secured majority in three of five MCs, results of which were out on Wednesday.
For the first time, the voters elected the mayors directly, in a departure from earlier practice of councillors electing the mayor from among themselves. The BJP leaders in private admitted that the result was “surprising”.
In Rohtak, the citadel of Congress’s top gun Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Congress-backed independent mayor candidate Sita Ram was trounced by BJP’s Man Mohan by 14,776 votes. In Hisar, BJP’s Gautam Sardana won by 28,091 votes. In Karnal, BJP’s Renu Bala managed to win by 9,348 votes in what was a fiercely fought battle. While BJP’s Avneet won in Panipat with 74,940 votes, Madan Singh won the Yamunanagar post by 40,678 votes. The refreshing outcome of this poll was entry of well-educated women into the poll arena and most of them emerging victorious.