Gurugram, March 12 (IANS) The results of the Manesar Municipal Corporation (MMC) were interestingly shocking for the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) after the party’s Mayor candidate and 13 Councillor candidates failed to secure their victory in the civic polls.
The party won seven seats. However, it failed to get the necessary majority number out of the 20 wards of MMC. This was the first Municipal corporation election in the Manesar area after the formation of the Manesar Corporation. The BJP’s mayor candidate, Sunder Lal Yadav, who was very confident of his victory, was defeated by an Independent candidate, Dr Inderjeet Yadav, wife of Rakesh Yadav, who the BJP claimed was a gangster.
MMC’s newly elected mayor, Dr Inderjeet Yadav, got 26,393 votes, while BJP’s Sunder Lal Yadav received 24,100 votes. He was defeated with a margin of 2,293 votes.
Congress mayor candidate Neeraj Yadav got 5,134 votes, and Independent candidate Vijay Singh got 9,163 votes. The newly elected Manesar Mayor had sought a ticket from the BJP, but the party gave the ticket to Sundarlal Yadav.
Several senior party leaders, including Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former Chief Minister and Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and Cabinet Minister Rao Narbir Singh, held massive campaign meetings in favour of Yadav, but they could not ensure victory for the party candidate.
Due to the big meetings, Sundarlal Yadav was confident of victory. On the other hand, a big factor in Dr Inderjeet Yadav’s victory was that she, from the start, did not take the election lightly, and went to the ground and contacted people one-on-one. Another factor in the victory was that Yadav and her husband, Rakesh Hayatpur, called themselves workers of Gurugram MP Rao Inderjeet Singh.
Rao Inderjeet’s name worked as a protective shield, due to which she won as an Independent despite all the big leaders of the BJP, including the Chief Minister, calling Rakesh Hayatpur a gangster. The BJP also had to pay a heavy price for ignoring Union Minister Rao Inderjeet Singh here. Rao Inderjeet did not even come to campaign in Manesar. However, a day before the voting, an AI-edited video of him came out in favour of the BJP candidate. There was also criticism about this.
In the last phase of campaigning, his fake video went viral, which could not go in favour of the BJP, and Dr Inderjeet used it as a weapon and was successful in her victory. Apart from this, during the municipal elections, the arrogance of cabinet minister Rao Narbir Singh also harmed the party candidate. While he termed Dr Inderjeet’s husband a gangster in Manesar, he also scolded the villagers of Daulatabad in Gurugram. The public not only defeated his supporters in Manesar but also in many wards of Gurugram.
Congress candidate Satpal from Ward 6 defeated BJP’s Ekta Tyagi by 1200 votes. This was the Congress’ single candidate who won.
However, in the Gurugram Municipal Elections, the BJP has scored a hat trick of victory. BJP candidate Rajrani Malhotra won with record votes. In the form of Rajrani, the BJP has given the city its third consecutive mayor. Since the formation of the Municipal Corporation Gurugram, BJP has been winning here. Rajrani got the benefit of two things in the election. Firstly, she and her husband, Tilakraj Malhotra, have a connection with the Sangh, and secondly, she gets the support of Punjabi voters.
The candidate of the leaderless Congress had to bear the brunt. Congress mayor candidate Seema Pahuja could neither become an alternative to anti-incumbency nor could she win the voters in her favour. Her husband, Pawan Pahuja, himself lost the councillor election.
In the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) election, out of 36 wards, BJP won 24 wards, 10 independent candidates also secured victory, and 1-1 seat each was won by Congress and Jananayak Janta Party (JJP) candidates.
–IANS
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