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.
