Rajiv is Sonepat Mayor

BJP’s Rajiv Jain defeated Kamal Diwan of the Congress by a margin of 34,749 votes in the byelections for the mayoral post in Sonepat on Wednesday. Jain got 57,858 votes, while Kamal secured 23,109 votes.

As many as five candidates — BJP’s Rajiv Jain, Congress’ Kamal Diwan, AAP’s Kamlesh Saini, BSP’s Dharambir and Independent candidate Ramesh Khatri — were in fray for the mayoral post in Sonepat. As many as 662 people opted for NOTA. BSP candidate Dharambir got 1,424 votes, AAP’s Dr Kamlesh Saini secured 366 votes and Independent candidate Ramesh Khatri polled 342 votes.

It was pertinent to mention that the MC elections were held in Sonepat for the first time in December 2020. Congress candidate Nikhil Madaan was elected the first mayor of Sonepat.

However, Nikhil joined the BJP in October last year before the Assembly elections. Nikhil was elected MLA from Sonepat on the BJP ticket after which the mayoral post fell vacant.

The BJP fielded Rajiv Jain, an experienced player, for the mayoral post in the byelections. He registered victory by a margin of 34,749 votes on Wednesday.

However, the State Election Commission has said that the votes cast at five booths in Bayanpur village (from booth numbers 228 to 232) would not be included in the counting of the mayoral byelection in Sonepat. The decision was taken after the Congress’ candidate, Kamal Diwan, filed a complaint with the commission.