Both Chander Mohan, Gian Chand Gupta trailed in their residential areas

Though Congress candidate Chander Mohan managed to defeat Gian Chand Gupta of the BJP to grab the Panchkula Assembly seat, he trailed in his own residential area of Sector 8. Similarly, Gupta also lagged behind in Sector 17, where he resides. While Gupta managed much support from the sectors, Chander Mohan had an edge in the villages.

A day after his victory in a close contest, MLA elect Chander Mohan was joined by his local supporters to discuss and analyse the poll outcome.

Chander Mohan, who focussed on the entire Assembly during his campaigning, trailed at four, out of five polling booths, in his own sector. A total of 1,115 residents voted in favour of Gupta, while Chander Mohan managed to get only 807 votes in Sector 8.

Similarly, Gupta, former Haryana Assembly Speaker, trailed at six, out of nine polling stations, in his area of Sector 17. He polled 2,408 votes against Chander Mohan’s share of 2,950.

The contest was so intense that the gap between the votes of both senior leaders was reduced to a single-digit figure at some polling stations. The two received an equal number of votes (321) at polling station No. 205 in Sukhdarshanpur village. At polling station No. 173 in Maheshpur, there was a difference of only two votes.

Chander Mohan had an edge in the majority of the villages, including Asarewali, Nada, Ramgarh, Billa, Toka, Naggal, Bharaili and Jaloli, but trailed in Abheypur, Bunga, Khetpurali, Rayali and Tibbi. Gupta fared well in the Bir Ghaggar area, Sectors 2, 4, 21, 20, 7 and others.

In Sector 21, the home locality of former Mayor and Congress leader Upinder Ahluwalia, Chander Mohan trailed at seven polling stations, out of a total of eight. Similarly, in Sector 15, the residential area of Punjabi Sabha president Ravinder Rawal, Chander Mohan trailed at nine polling stations.

Chander Mohan took lead in the majority of polling stations of Sectors 25, 26, 27 and 28. Residents of these sectors had decided not to vote for the BJP over the Jhuriwala dumping ground issue. The former Assembly Speaker scored higher than his counterpart in Sectors 6 and 16 — the areas of his party co-workers and ticket aspirants Kulbhushan Goyal and Ranjita Mehta, respectively.

Close contest at two polling stations

The contest was so intense that the gap between the votes of both senior leaders was reduced to a single-digit figure at some polling stations. The two received an equal number of votes (321) at polling station No. 205 in Sukhdarshanpur village. At polling station No. 173 in Maheshpur, there was a difference of only two votes.