CHANDIGARH: The ruling BJP swept the municipal corporation elections in Haryana as it registered emphatic wins in Ambala, Sonipat and Panchkula.
The saffron party also swept other civic body polls and clinched the president's post in the Sampla Municipal Committee, a stronghold of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Interestingly, the Congress had not fielded its candidate in Sampla for the civic polls. The BJP registered a resounding win in the Rewari Municipal Council elections, with party candidate Vineeta Pippal clinching the chairperson’s post by a massive margin of over 21,000 votes.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini hailed the BJP's stupendous show in the civic polls, which came close on the heels of the party's big wins in West Bengal and Assam.
He said people have once again approved and reposed their trust in the policies and programmes of the Narendra Modi-led government.
Saini hit out at the Congress, saying people have once again rejected them. "Congress always takes support of lies, people have understood this, the grand old party's real face has been unmasked," he said.
On the BJP's win in the Hooda bastion, Sampla, Saini said, "People don't trust Hooda anymore. He lies. Our government is working with honesty and transparency, fulfilling the promises made to people, ‘’ he said.
In the Sampla municipal committee, BJP’s Praveen defeated Independent candidate Ankit by 687 votes. In Dharuhera, BJP’s Satyanarayan, alias Ajay Jangra, won against Babu Lal, an Independent candidate, by 6,236 votes, while Congress ended up in third place.
However, in Uklana, BJP candidate Nikita Goyal lost to Independent candidate Rima Soni by 2,806 votes.
BJP mayoral candidate Sham Lal Bansal and 17 ward candidates swept the Panchkula Municipal Corporation elections in a one-sided win.
Sham Lal Bansal registered a thumping win over Sudha Bhardwaj of Congress by 35,735 votes. Bansal got 66593 votes in comparison to 30856 votes got by Bhardwaj.
Bansal led from Round 1 till the end and kept on swelling its lead till the end. Congress candidate Sudha Bhardwaj alleged “Vote Chori” and came out of the counting centre even as the counting was underway.
Coming out of the counting centre, Bhardwaj and her supporters said, "We will sit and take a decision on what to do next.’’
In the Rewari municipal council, Vinita Pippal of the BJP defeated Congress’s Neharika by 21,445 votes.
In the Ambala municipal council, the BJP won 16 wards, three went to Congress, while an Independent won in one ward.
In the Sonipat municipal council, the BJP secured 17 wards out of a total of 22 wards while Congress registered wins in five wards.
In a few municipal wards, Congress candidates were even behind the Independents.
