Denied tickets from parties, independents hope to cash in on their loyal voter base
GURURGAM: Denied tickets from mainstream parties like Congress and BJP, a sizeable number of prominent party workers and even top leaders are now contesting as independents. Hoping to cash in on their loyal voter base, the independents hope that they may be able to upset the equations of the candidates for the mainstream parties.
There have been two occasions in the past where independents have won in the assembly elections. No one knows this situation better than the present Gurugram Congress candidate Sukhbir Kataria who fought the Gurugram election in 2009 as a candidate and won.
In that year the Indian National Congress that had got 40 out of 90 seats fell short of a majority and ultimately had to seek the support of the independents to form the government. The independents at that time were able to get plum posts in the government that also included Sukhbir
Kataria who was able to get a cabinet post of sports minister in the then Haryana government.
One of the candidates who will be giving Kataria a tough fight is Seema Pahuja. Belonging to the Congress Party, Pahuja was hoping to be third time lucky after she was denied tickets in 2009 and 2014. She will be fighting as an independent candidate and her nomination papers have been accepted by the surveyors. There are also three to four other members who have had an affinity with the Congress but are now fighting independents.
The BJP also has to deal with the independents trying to affect its electoral chances. Most of the members like Madan Grover, Ashwini Sharma who have had a strong political base in the city are now fighting independents after they were denied tickets. Moreover, the former Gururgam MLA Umesh Aggarwal who in 2014 had won on the BJP ticket by securing 56 percent vote share is now backing his wife who will be fighting as an independent. Aggarwal was denied the ticket by the BJP and instead this time the chance was given to Sudhir Singla who is the son of former BJP MLA Sitaram Singla.