BJP sweeps Sonepat municipal election, wins mayoral post and 17 of 22 wards
Sonepat residents reposed faith in ruling BJP candidate Rajiv Jain for the second time in a year
The BJP recorded a landslide victory in Sonepat on Wednesday, winning 17 of the 22 wards and the mayoral post by a margin of 23,247 votes. The Congress had to settle for only five wards.
Sonepat residents reposed faith in ruling BJP candidate Rajiv Jain for the second time in a year. Jain defeated Congress opponent Kamal Diwan by 23,247 votes.
Notably, Rajiv Jain was elected mayor of the city in the mayoral byelection held in March last year. He had defeated the same candidate, Kamal Diwan, by 34,970 votes at that time.
As many as 10 candidates, including NOTA, were in the electoral fray for the mayoral post in the Sonepat Municipal Corporation (MC) election.
BJP’s Rajiv Jain received a total of 78,033 votes out of 1,42,688 votes polled on May 10, while Congress candidate Kamal Diwan secured 54,786 votes. INLD candidate Anand Kumar got 5,210 votes. Among Independents, Anal Singhal received 651 votes, Dr Kamlesh Kumar Saini 305, Chand Ram 318, Ramesh Kumar Khatri 1,071, Sant Dharamvir Chotiwala 275, and Hawa Singh 433. A total of 1,606 voters opted for NOTA.NOTA received 1,606 votes, which is more than any Independent candidate who contested the mayoral election.
BJP also outshone its rivals by winning 17 of the 22 wards in Sonepat, while five Congress candidates won.
The counting was held at BITS, Mohana village, on the Sonepat-Gohana road under tight security. After winning the election, Rajiv Jain received his certificate of victory from Returning Officer and Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Ajay Chopra in the presence of BJP State President Mohan Badoli, MLA Nikhil Madaan, his wife and former Cabinet Minister Kavita Jain, BJP district president Ashok Bhardwaj, and other party leaders. Party workers and supporters distributed sweets at the counting centre.
After the win, BJP organised a huge victory procession in the city.
