NEW DELHI: Gurugram residents cast their ballots for the long-awaited Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Sunday.
However, the voter turnout remained low with just 41.8% of the electorate casting their votes. The election comes 27 months after the last elected MCG House completed its term in 2022. Voting was held to elect the mayors and ward members of seven municipal corporations -- Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar.
Bypolls for the mayors’ posts in Ambala and Sonipat were also held. The voting was held from 8 am to 6 pm.
For the first time, the voters in Gurugram directly voted to elect their mayor, a change introduced in 2018, replacing the earlier system where councillors made the selection. The Manesar Municipal Corporation (MCM), formed in 2020, also held its maiden election with a voter turnout recorded at 66.9%. With over nine lakh registered voters in Gurugram and nearly one lakh in Manesar, the election saw 905 polling booths, including 120 inside housing societies, an initiative to boost voter turnout.
The run-up to the elections saw an intense contest between the BJP and Congress, the only two parties fielding mayoral candidates in Gurugram, Raj Rani for the BJP and Seema Pahuja for the Congress.
While the BJP banked on its state government’s track record, the Congress campaigned on issues of waste management, road conditions, and waterlogging, problems that worsened in the absence of an elected civic body. The election was significantly delayed as a result of delimitation, which expanded MCG’s jurisdiction but took years due to Census unavailability.
The MCG will now consist of 36 wards, one more than the previous term. Meanwhile, governance gaps in the interim period have resulted in deteriorating city infrastructure, leaving residents frustrated.
A recurring issue has been waterlogged streets during the monsoon which brings the “Millennium City” to a standstill. The results are scheduled to be announced on March 12.