CHANDIGARH: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a triple-engine government in Haryana after securing a decisive victory in the civic elections, winning nine out of 10 municipal corporation polls and defeating its traditional rival, Congress. This surge comes just over five months after the party secured a hat-trick, forming its third consecutive government in the state.
The only setback for the BJP came in the mayoral election of Manesar Municipal Corporation, held for the first time, where its candidate, Sunder Lal, lost to independent candidate Inderjeet Yadav, who is known to have close ties with Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh. Yadav defeated Lal by a margin of 2,293 votes.
The saffron party candidates registered emphatic wins in Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Sonipat, Yamunanagar and Panipat defeating their nearest Congress rivals.
The Congress, which was looking to turn around its electoral fortunes after suffering a defeat in the 2024 Assembly polls, had to bite the dust. In a significant blow to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on his home turf of Rohtak, BJP candidate Ram Avtar Balmiki won the mayoral election, defeating Suraj Mal Kiloi of Congress by 45,198 votes.
In Karnal, Union minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s loyalist Renu Bala Gupta of the BJP defeated Manoj Kumar Wadhwa of the Congress by a margin of 25,359 votes for the third consecutive time.
The BJP also emerged victorious in Faridabad, with its candidate Praveen Joshi defeating Lata Rani of Congress by 3.16 lakh votes. While in the high-stakes Gurugram, Raj Rani Malhotra of BJP triumphed over Seema Pahuja of Congress by 1.79 lakh votes. In Panipat, Komal Saini of the BJP defeated Savita Garg of Congress to become the new Mayor by 1.62 lakh votes and Rajiv Jain of BJP secured 57,858 votes to win the Mayoral seat in Sonipat. While in Yamunanagar, Suman Bahmani of the saffron party defeated Kirna Devi of Congress.
In the two mayoral bypolls, Rajiv Jain of the saffron party defeated Kamal Dewan of Congress in Sonepat, while Shalaija Sachdeva of the BJP defeated Amisha Chawla of the Congress in Ambala by 20,487 votes. On the other hand Praveen Popli of the BJP won the mayoral poll in Hisar, defeating Krishan Singla of the grand old party.
Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli, while thanking the voters for reposing their faith in the party once again, asserted that the BJP’s dream of forming a triple-engine government in the state has now been realized.
Haryana’s Energy, Transport and Labor Minister Anil Vij said that that in Ambala Cantonment Municipal Council as well, BJP candidates’ secured victory in 25 out of 32 seats, including the president’s seat, with a massive majority. This success, he said, is a reward for the relentless efforts put into development in Ambala Cantonment by him.
He further said that "With the cooperation of all candidates, whether they won or lost, we will take Ambala Cantonment to new heights of development." He said that in the state’s municipal elections, people have once again expressed their support for Narendra Modi’s politics of development.
The elections to elect mayors and ward members in seven municipal corporations — Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar were held on March 2. The bypolls for the mayoral posts in Ambala and Sonipat and the elections for presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees were also held that day.
In the outgoing municipal corporations, BJP had its mayors in eight of the 10 civic bodies. While Nikhil Madaan was the Sonipat mayor and a Congress leader.
Ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls, he joined the BJP and won the Sonipat Assembly seat. In Ambala municipal corporation, Shakti Rani Sharma was the mayor as a Haryana Janchetna Party leader. She too, joined the BJP ahead of the assembly polls and won the Kalka Assembly seat. The other municipal corporations where polling was held had BJP mayors.
The civic polls dealt a blow to the Congress which saw workers and leaders in districts switching over to the BJP ahead of the elections. The party-state unit has, in the past, been faced with infighting and factionalism unlike the BJP, which has a well-organized and strong organizational structure at the grassroots level.
The overall voter turnout on both days (March 2 and 9) was disappointing at 41 per cent as compared to 68 per cent for the assembly elections last October.