Gurugram civic elections: Independents bag 21 out of 35 wards, BJP comes distant second

Gurgaon: Independents won 21 of the 35 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) polls on Sunday while the ruling BJP had to remain content with just 13 seats. Significantly, 15 of the 35 candidates who emerged victorious were women. Polling for the urban local body began at 7 am on Sunday and concluded at 5 pm. The counting of votes ended around 8 pm after which the results were declared. While independents bagged the lion’s share, the BJP could get just 13 seats. The party had contested all the 35 seats. Opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) managed to clinch one seat. Soon after the result was declared, Haryana PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh said that several independent candidates who have won would support the BJP. The mayor would be from the BJP, he said. State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, however, claimed that the results signified a rejection of both the BJP and the INLD. “The result are a clear indication that if the Congress had contested on its symbol, the party would have won 25-30 seats and would have got the mayor’s post as well,” Tanwar claimed. [caption id=“attachment_4078089” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Of the independents who won, three were supported by the Congress while two were backed by the INLD. Of the 15 women candidates who were elected, 10 were independents, while five were from the BJP. This is for the first time that so many women have emerged in Gurgaon civic body polls, officials said. During the polling today, there were reports of minor skirmishes, the police said adding that two persons were arrested on charges of attempting to vote on fake voter IDs. Like the previous elections in 2011, polling in urban areas was less as compared to the rural parts. The highest voter turnout was at the Kherki Daula senior secondary school where 681 out of 796 voters cast their votes. There are a total 5,58,884 voters in Gurgaon out of which 2,76,420 cast their votes at 546 polling booths. Among the victorious candidates were Mithlesh Barwal (Independent) from ward 1, Shakuntala Devi (BJP) from ward 2, Ravinder Yadav (BJP) from ward 3, Birendra (INLD) from ward 4, Dimple Yadav (BJP) from ward 5, Naresh Sherawat (Independent) from ward 6, Madhu Azad (BJP) from ward 7, Dinesh Saini (Independent) from ward 8, Pramila Kablan (Independent) from ward 9, Hemant Kumar Sain (Independent) from ward 28. Among others, Sunita Yadav (Independent) won from ward 22, Seema Pahuja (Independent) from ward 15. while Naveen Dhaiya (Independent) won from ward 12.