The BJP’s mayoral candidate, Sham Lal Bansal, and 17 ward candidates emerged victorious as the party took the Panchkula Municipal Corporation elections by storm today. Two Independents and one Congress candidate were among the winners in wards.
The man of the moment was a 72-year-old businessman-cum-politician, Sham Lal Bansal, who registered a convincing win over Sudha Bhardwaj of the Congress by 36,252 votes to bag the top spot in the civic body. Bansal polled 68,544 votes in comparison to 32,292 votes bagged by Sudha in a largely two-way contest. The old-time RSS leader, Bansal led from Round 1 and maintained his lead till the end.
Bansal said, “I express my gratitude to the people of Panchkula. This is a win of BJP workers’ hard work and dedication.” Reacting to the allegations of rigging, Bansal said, “It was a fair and transparent poll. The Congress should understand that it was a house divided. They did not reach out to the people. I have some projects in mind that will be taken up on priority.”
Cong alleges “vote chori”
A visibly upset Congress candidate Sudha alleged “vote chori”. She came out of the centre with her workers even as the counting was still underway, alleging that it was a result of a compromised election process. A day earlier, she, along with other candidates, had alleged that the CCTV surveillance of the strong room housing EVMs had collapsed partially for an hour and 50 minutes in the morning.
Among the notable winners was ward No.6 candidate Parth Gupta of the BJP, 22-year-old grandson of former Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta. He defeated Independent Parveen Kumar Goyal by a margin of 866 votes. He said: “I will work for the betterment of people and will be available to them in their time of need.”
Most intense battle
Ward No.10 saw the most intense battle among eight candidates and NOTA option. Four candidates, Shekhar of the BJP (1,279), Rajnish Singla of the INLD (1,220), Baljit Singh of the Congress (1,128) and Independent Rajesh Kumar (1,027) were in the race till the very end. A wafer thin margin of 59 votes finally took the BJP candidate home after 21 rounds of counting.
