The Hindu 05.06.2013
Independents steal the show in Haryana civic polls
Even as results for elections to seven newly created
Municipal Corporations in Haryana were declared, there was a mad
scramble among political parties to claim credit for bagging the most
winners. Though the ruling Congress did not contest on its election
symbol, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed that out of 103
independent elected candidates majority of them were from the Congress.
Congratulating
the newly elected municipal councillors, Mr Hooda said that the victory
of candidates connected with the Congress is an indication of the
popularity of the party and a negation of the false propaganda by
opposition parties that predicted a victory for themselves. He said that
the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) of Om Prakash Chautala could win
only 16 seats while the BJP won 25.
Meanwhile Abhay
Singh Chautala of the INLD said that the competition was only between
his party and the BJP and that the Congress avoided contesting on its
election symbol because it was sensing a defeat. He also said that in
the ward of Rohtak town where the Chief Minister’s own house is situated
the BJP councillor won. Citing this as an indication of the Chief
Minister’s unpopularity in Rohtak, Mr Chautala said that the BJP
candidate won despite the Chief Minister fielding his close confidante
from the ward.
Elections were held for the newly
created Municipal Corporations of Ambala, Panchkula, Yamunanagar,
Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Hisar for which polling was held on June 2.
State Election Commissioner Dharam Vir, announcing the results said that
polling was held for 144 wards in seven Municipal Corporations where
1,686 candidates were in fray. The poll percentage was 68.8 and in all
10,75,885 electorates had cast their votes in these elections.
He
said that out of 144 wards, the independent candidates won in 103 . The
candidates of the BJP won in 25 wards whereas those of the INLD won in
16 wards. He said that in Ambala, the BJP has won four and independent
candidates have won 14 seats. Similarly, in Hisar, INLD has won four and
independent candidates have won 16 seats. In Karnal, BJP has won three,
INLD two and independent candidates have won 15 seats. In Panchkula,
each of the INLD and BJP has won three seats and 14 seats have been
bagged by independent candidates.
In Panipat, BJP won
six, INLD two and 16 seats were won by the independents. In Rohtak, the
BJP has won two, the INLD one and independent candidates have won 17
seats whereas in Yamunanagar the BJP has won seven, the INLD four and
independent candidates bagged nine seats.
