Independents hold sway in Gurugram

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, September 24

Independent candidates ruled the roost in MC elections today, winning 20 of the 35 seats. The BJP, that had claimed that it would win 30 seats, got only 14.

One seat went to the INLD. Fifteen seats were won by women candidates, 10 of whom were Independents and five supported by the BJP. A total of 202 candidates, including 78 women, contested the MC elections in Gurugram. There were 147 independent candidates.

While the BJP contested every seat, the INLD had 20 candidates and supported 10 independent candidates. The Congress did not announce any candidate, but supported 14 independent candidates.

Recounting was held in ward 6 in which BJP candidate was declared winner.

The results failed to dampen BJP spirits. Party leader Rao Narbir Singh predicted that the Mayor would be from the BJP. “A majority of independent candidates have expressed support to us and the Mayor will be from the BJP,” he said.

Local residents were unenthusiastic towards polling, with only 55.68 per cent polling being recorded in 76 booths compared to 63.3 per cent in 2011.

The population in urban areas, most vocal on social media about civic issues in Gurugram, failed to cast votes while rural areas and villages in the city areas saw a good turnout. The highest voter turnout was at Kherki Daula Senior Secondary School, where 681 of the 796 voters cast the ballot.

The lowest turnout was recorded at DLF Phase 2 polling booth at American Montessori Public School as only 22 of the 1,314 registered voters turned up. The polling percentage here was 1.67. The local administration and police conducted the poll peacefully even though over 200 booths had been declared sensitive.

However, there were reports of minor brawls. Two persons were arrested on the charge of attempting to vote on the basis of fake voter ID. Unconfirmed reports claimed bogus voting at a few centres, too.

Poll peaceful in Y’nagar
Yamunanagar, September 24
Pooja Bharti, SDM, Bilaspur, said today that the election to the Municipal Committee, Radaur, went off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported.

She said 44 candidates were in the fray from 13 wards. The ward-wise winners are: Jaswant Singh (ward No. 1), Smriti (2), Meenakshi (3) Devinder Lucky (4), Roshan Lal (5), Bhagwat Dyal (6), Rajan (7), Sudesh Rani (8), Kashima (9), Dilip Singh, aka Rinku, (10), Preeti Garg (11), Mohinder Pal Teena (12) and Ravinder Saini (13).

Ambala: Barring sporadic incidents, the Municipal Committee elections in Barara went off peacefully on Sunday. There were 49 candidates in fray for 15 seats. The ward-wise winners are: Shamsher Singh (ward No.1), Amit Kumar (2), Surjeet Singh (3), Abhilasha (4), Yogita Rani (5), Anju (6), Baljinder Singh (7), Seema (8), Munish Kumar (9), Paramjeet Singh (10), Jaswinder Pal (11), Rama Khetarpal (12), Richa Pahwa (13), Sandeep (14) and Deepak Bajwa (ward No. 15).