Neelam, Krishan Pehalwan’s wife, retains Dichaon Kalan ward

Despite the saffron wave in Delhi, the wife of gangster-turned-politician Krishan Pehalwan retained the Dichaon Kalan ward by winning the seat as Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate. Neelam Pehalwan won the municipal elections by defeating Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) candidate Sandeep Shokeen with 4,955 votes.

Of the 270 seats on which municipal elections were held on Sunday, INLD won only one seat and that was Dichaon Kalan. Neelam was the sitting councillor of the Dichaon Kalan ward. She got 13,458 votes and defeated Shokeen, who secured the second positing with 8,503 votes. She was also the chairperson of Najafgarh municipal zone.

Pehalwan, a strongman of Najafgarh, was the sitting councillor of Najafgarh ward. He, however, did not contest the concluded municipal elections. An independent candidate, Meena Devi, had replaced Pehalwan by defeating the BJP candidate Sudha Sharma with 327 votes.

In a press statement issued by the INLD, the party’s leader of opposition in Haryana government, Abhay Singh Chautala, and other senior party leaders congratulated Neelam and attributed the win to the development work done by Neelam, her husband and other party workers in Dichaon Kalan ward.