Saffron reigns supreme in Haryana

CHANDIGARH: The BJP made a clean sweep in the election to

Panipat

’s muncipal corporation (MC) by winning 22 of the total 26 wards and also winning the direct mayrol election by a margin of 74,940 votes.

Avneet Kaur, daughter of former mayor Bhupender Singh, defeated Anshu Pahwa, who got 51,381 votes, less than half of the 1.26 lakh votes polled by Avneet. The winning candidate polled more than 10 times the votes bagged by the third candidate, Seema Saini (12,192 votes).

The Panipat MC went to elections along with four other corporations and two municipal committees on Sunday. The results were announced on Wednesday. BJP won 22 of the 26 wards of the MC. While one seat was won by the Congress-supported candidate, the remaining three were won by independents.

The INLD candidate could not even cross the 10,000 mark. Party candidate Priyanaka got only 7,309 votes.

The BJP had received a major boost when it came to campaigning in the city. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had campaigned in Panipat and

Karnal

for two days. Transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar, Panipat Rural MLA Mahipal Dhanda and Panipat Urban MLA Rohita Rewri had been continuously campaigning in the city.

On the other hand, Congress-supported Anshu had been extended support from former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda of the Congress, former assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma, and other senior leaders of the party.

Avneet maintained the lead over her competition right from Round 1 of counting of votes. By the final round, her lead had crossed 70,000 votes.

Urban local bodies minister Kavita Jain, who too had been campaigning in Panipat for long, termed the victory as the locals’ faith in BJP and its policies. “The credit goes to the policies and programmes of the BJP in Haryana. This comes along with the hard work of local workers and sensible voting by locals. Voters have responded to our clean governance and the corruption-free atmosphere here,’’ said Jain.

Interacting with media, Congress leader Balbir Pal Shah, who had been managing Pahwa’s campaign, put the blame on electronic voting machines. Shah and his supporters had walked out of the counting hall in protest against what they called “faulty” EVMs.