The Congress party is likely to endure its second consecutive electoral loss in Haryana.
As vote counting in municipal body polls went on during the morning hours on Wednesday, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked to be on top, leading or having already won mayoral seats in nine out of the ten civic bodies.
They are Gurugram and Rohtak, important areas which have been described widely as fiefs of veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.
In Manesar, though, independent candidate Dr. Inderjit Yadav, a rebel BJP leader, has emerged as the front-runner.
It should be noted that the Congress, which lost sharply in the last Assembly polls despite taking an early lead, has seldom fought local body elections on its own party symbol. But this time, the party has nominated several candidates, including for the high-profile mayoral contest of Gurugram, which put the party in a direct confrontation with the BJP.
In response, the BJP deployed top leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Nayab Saini and Delhi’s newly-elected Mayor Rekha Gupta, to campaign aggressively through large-scale roadshows and door-to-door outreach. Congress countered with its own stalwarts, such as former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and Bhupinder Hooda.
However, the result has been largely in favor of the BJP. In Gurugram, the party candidate Raj Rani created a decisive lead over Congress' Seema Pahuja by over 95,000 votes after six rounds of counting.
Congress Trails Behind in Rohtak
The Rohtak mayoral contest, which was initially a five-cornered contest with the BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and an independent candidate, became a landslide victory for the BJP.
BJP nominee Ram Avtar won comfortably by more than a lakh votes, with the Congress' Surajmal Kiloi following a distance behind with more than 45,000 votes. The victory is especially humiliating for the Congress, given Rohtak's long-established reputation as a political stronghold of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda.
BJP Wins in Ambala, Ahead in Faridabad
In Ambala, BJP's Shailja Sachdeva won, defeating Congress' Amisha Chawla by 20,487 votes.
In Faridabad, meanwhile, BJP's Parveen Joshi was ahead of Congress' Lata Rani.
BJP Leads in Hisar, Karnal, and Panipat
- Hisar: BJP's Praveen Popli is ahead of Congress candidate Krishan Singla.
- Karnal: BJP's Renu Bala Gupta is far ahead of Congress' Manoj Wadhwa.
- Panipat: BJP's Komal Saini is ahead of Congress' Savita Garg.
- Sonipat: BJP's senior leader Rajiv Jain is in the lead over Congress' Komal Dewan.
- Yamunanagar: BJP's Suman is leading Congress' Kirna Devi.
- Polling for major cities—such as Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal, and Yamunanagar—along with Gurugram and Manesar—was carried out on March 2. By-elections for mayors in Ambala and Sonipat were conducted on the same day, whereas Panipat voted on March 9. Along with it, elections to 21 municipal committees were held simultaneously.
But the voter turnout was surprisingly low. Reports say that the turnout was only 41 percent—a whopping decline from the 68 percent in the previous Assembly elections.
At the same time, 26 ward members were elected unopposed. They include Kuldeep Singh (Faridabad), Vikas Yadav (Gurugram), Sankalp Bhandari and Sanjeev Kumar Mehta (Karnal), and Bhavna (Yamunanagar).
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