Kota, Sep 14 (PTI) The BJP has crossed the majority threshold in the Kota Municipal Corporation election, securing 55 out of 100 wards, and restricting Congress to 40 and Independents to three wards.
Counting and result of Ward 87 was put on hold after an EVM malfunctioned.
Congress candidate from the ward, Laxmi Sharma, along with party leader Shalini Gautam, and Youth Congress secretary Shubham Gochar sat on a ‘dharna’ outside the JDB college demanding the result.
“We are well aware of the ill-intention of BJP, known for foul games. We are winning Ward 87 and they played some game overnight to defeat us,” Sharma, who was pitted against BJP’s Pushpa Choudhary, told reporters.
Later in the day, Kota Congress president Rakhi Gautam arrived at the college counting centre to demand transparency and ensured the machine was sealed in the presence of the collector and ADM.
The officials forwarded a formal report to the Election Commission through the returning officer (RO), seeking instructions.
BJP candidate Vivek Rajvanshi won his fourth consecutive term as councillor of Ward 54, defeating the closest candidate, Congress’s Manish, by 2,226 votes.
BJP’s Gopal Ram Manda won his fifth consecutive election, defeating Congress candidate Sanjay Yadav by 899 votes.
The victory celebration was accompanied by brief drama when Independent candidate Babulal protested alleging he was denied entry to the counting area.
Despite the BJP’s overall control of the board, Congress and Independent candidates secured victories in key wards.
Youth Congress candidate Arpit Jain pulled off a major upset by defeating BJP veteran and former deputy mayor Yogendra Khinchi by 250 votes in Ward 86.
Independent candidate Vandana Faujdar won the seat in Ward 71 with 1,264 votes, defeating BJP candidate Meenakshi Sen by 160 votes, while the Congress candidate finished in third place.
In Bundi, BJP emerged as the largest party with 29 wards wins, albeit two seats short of a majority, leaving Congress at 20 and 11 Independents with scope for negotiations.
Later in the evening, three Independent candidates — Prabhat Devi from Ward 1, Aatmaram Chopdar from Ward 3 and Vishal Sharma from Ward 16 — joined BJP bringing the saffron party to full majority to form the board.
The party had captured the previous mid-term by suspending Congress municipal council sabhapati Madu Nuwal.
Some Congress leaders claimed that the party was set to form the board this time also, but were held back by discrimination in ticket distribution, centralised to a few family people.
Former councillor Devraj Gochar, and Ankit Buliwal and Jeeshan Ali, were denied Congress ticket and they won independently from ward 54, 44, 19.
Meanwhile, former Bundi city BJP president Sushil Mehta lost against an Independent in Ward 16.
Congress city president Shailesh Soni and youth Congress leader Nishant Nuwal won from Ward 25 and Ward 47. PTI COR VN VN
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