Ruling BJP sweeps first-ever direct mayoral polls
Win indicates that the party has somehow retained its hold and glamour in urban belts — the core support base of the party in state
CHANDIGARH: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored a resounding win in Haryana municipal corporation (MC) elections by winning all five mayoral seats with massive margins and securing majority in three of the five MCS, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
For the first time, the voters elected the mayor directly, in a departure from the earlier practice of councillors electing the mayor from among themselves.
Yet another refreshing outcome of this civic body electoral bout was the entry of well-educated women into the poll arena and most of them emerging victorious.
The outcome of this hardfought slugfest, that chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar spearheaded, is set to inject a fresh energy into the otherwise sulking BJP cadre.
For the BJP, this victory comes in the backdrop of three- zero defeat of the party in the recent Hindi heartland assembly elections.
A loss would have brought Khattar’s administrative skills and his style of functioning under scanner within the party.
The victory has, however, come as a major breather to Khattar, the RSS pracharak-turned CM, who has been leading the first ever BJP government in Haryana since October 2014.
In the run up to the polls, the saffron party was nervous so much so that its political vocabulary had become offensive and the party leaders had unabashedly started making promises that tantamount to offering bribe to voters.
The BJP’S win clearly indicates that the party has somehow retained its hold, and glamour, in urban belts—the core support base of the party in Haryana.
‘SURPRISING’ STRIKE RATE
The victory will silence the critics, and the pundits in equal measure, who were predicting rout of the BJP. The BJP leaders in private admitted that the poll outcome was “surprising”.
The ruling party swept the Panipat MC polls and breached the half way mark in Karnal and Yamunanagar. However, BJP juggernaut was halted at Hisar and Rohtak where the voters gave a split verdict.
The sure-footed BJP fought the December 16 elections on party symbol, while the Congress, gripped by the factional-feud, shied away from fighting the polls on party symbol. Instead, the Congress supported independent candidates in the fray for the post of mayor. And the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), known for support base in rural areas and struggling to recover from the recent split in the party, contested three mayoral seats on party symbol.
While the Congress-backed independent mayoral candidates stood second, the INLD nominees were pushed to sixth, fourth and third slots.
Political analysts described this “stunning victory” of the BJP as a warning sign for the Congress. For example, in Rohtak the citadel of Congress’ top gun and former two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Congress-backed independent mayoral candidate Sita Ram was trounced by BJP’S Manmohan by 14,776 votes in spite of Hooda’s extensive campaign. Equally dismal was Congress’s performance in Hisar where Congress leaders such as former minister Savitri Jindal and Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, Hansi MLA Renuka Bishnoi sought votes for an independent who lost to BJP’S Gautam Sardana by 28,091 votes. In Karnal, the assembly segment of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP’S Renu Bala managed to win the mayoral seat
by 9,348 votes in what was a fiercely fought battle.
In Panipat and Yamunanagar the saffron party nominees scored impressive wins. While BJP nominee Avneet won Panipat the mayoral seat by a margin of 74,940 votes, Madan Singh won Yamunanagar by 40,678 votes.wednesday’s civic election results are being seen as having set the tone for the high stake 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Haryana. Clearly, the poll outcome indicates the prevailing mood in urban belts of Haryana.
By giving the mandate in favour of BJP, the people of Haryana have put their stamp on the welfare policies of the present state government.
MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR, Haryana chief minister