Gurugram: The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) swept all three municipal corporation mayoral contests in Haryana on Tuesday, winning Panchkula, Ambala and Sonipat by comfortable margins, even as Congress failed to win a single civic body it directly contested, dealing a significant blow to the party ahead of its ambitions to consolidate support in the state.
In Panchkula, BJP’s Shyamlal Bansal defeated Congress candidate Sudha Bhardwaj by a margin of 36,252 votes.
In Sonipat, BJP’s Rajiv Jain polled 78,035 votes, beating Congress’ Kamal Diwan, who received 54,788, by a margin of 23,247 votes.
In Ambala, BJP’s Akshita Saini won by 21,358 votes, beating Congress’ Kulwinder Kaur Saini, who got 31,436 votes.
In the municipal committee and council results, BJP’s Vinita Pippal won the Rewari Nagar Parishad chairperson seat by 21,455 votes over Congress’ Neharika.
BJP’s Praveen Koch won the Sampla Nagar Palika chairmanship by 687 votes.
BJP’s Ajay Jangra won the Dharuhera Nagar Palika chairmanship with 9,392 votes.
The lone bright spot for the Opposition came in Uklana, where Congress-backed independent Reema Soni defeated BJP’s Nikita Goyal by 2,806 votes. Soni was also backed by INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala.
The counting in Panchkula extended till 3.30 pm following allegations of EVM tampering by Congress candidate Sudha Bhardwaj, who claimed that a secret passage existed in the strong room and that seals on machines inside had been broken.
She alleged that officials did not respond to her queries. The charge led to a commotion at the counting centre.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini attributed the results to public trust in the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state, saying the results reflected faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Taking a pointed dig at the principal opposition leader, Saini said, “Nobody trusts Bhupinder Singh Hooda anymore.”
State Congress President, Rao Narender Singh didn’t respond to calls made to his mobile phone.
INLD supremo Abhay Singh Chautala video-called Reema Soni to congratulate her on her victory in Uklana.
Political analyst Jyoti Mishra, assistant professor of political science at Amity University, Mohali, said the results were quite discouraging for the Congress, given that elections were held in areas where the party was supposed to have strong support.
“Panchkula and Ambala are part of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat, and Sonipat is part of the Sonipat Lok Sabha seat. Both these constituencies have Congress MPs. Further, Panchkula and Ambala have Congress MLAs. Still the party has lost on all these seats,” she told ThePrint.
Mishra added that although Congress did not field candidates for municipal committees, the BJP’s win in Sampla—which falls within former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s Garhi Sampla Kiloi assembly constituency—was a setback for him personally.
The elections were held for three municipal corporations, one municipal council and three municipal committees across the state.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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