Haryana: Congress wins mayoral polls in 4 cities, HJC-BJP bags Karnal

CHANDIGARH: Congress-backed candidates won mayoral polls in Ambala, Yamunanagar, Rohtak and Hisar municipal corporations on Tuesday while the candidate supported by HaryanaJanhitCongress-BJP combine was elected as mayor of Karnal.
Elections to pick Panipat mayor would be held on Wednesday while Panchkula councillors will elect the civic body leader on Thursday.
Elections to municipal corporations in Ambala, Panchkula, Karnal, Panipat, Hisar, Rohtak and Yamunanagar were held on June 2. This was the first civic election in these cities after they were upgraded to municipal corporations from municipal committees three years ago.
In Karnal, Renu Bala, supported by HJC-BJP, bagged 11 out of 20 votes, to be elected as the mayor, defeating Congress-supported candidate Kailash Goel, who could get nine votes only. In the recently concluded Karnal civic body pools, 15 independents, 2 INLD and 3 BJP councillors were elected.
In a surprising development, Congress candidate Saroj Bala was elected as mayor of Yamunanagar where BJP had won seven seats. Congress supporters had won four out of total 20 seats, but Bala got 11 votes in the poll on Tuesday. It is learned that local Congress leaders succeeded in getting the support of independent and BSP-supported councillors.
In Ambala, enjoying local MLA Venod Sharma's support, councillor Ramesh Mal became the mayor. Here, 16 out of 20 councillors were Congress-supported. Ramesh is a businessman dealing in raw leather.
After being declared as the first mayor of Ambala, Ramesh said, "Ambala is the oldest city of the region. I will leave no stone unturned to make it clean and green with well-maintained infrastructure."
In Hisar, Congress-supported councillor Shakuntala Rajliwal won the mayoral battle, getting 16 votes, whereas INLD candidate Rekha Saini got four votes. "My first priority would be to improve the drinking water supply," said Rajliwal.
Congress-backed independent candidates had won 13 seats in Hisar MC poll and INLD claimed four seats while BJP drew a blank. Two supporters of the HJC, who had not contested on party's symbol, too, emerged victorious.
In Rohtak, the hometown of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress-supported candidate Renu Dabla was unanimously elected as mayor.