Chandigarh. Counting of votes for seven urban local bodies and 528 panchayats in Haryana began on Wednesday in a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress. There was 54.5 percent voting in these elections. These include the municipal corporations of Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat. Apart from this, elections were also held for Rewari Municipal Council and Municipal Committees of Sampla, Dharuhera and Uklana. By-elections were also held for one ward each in Tohana, Jhajjar, Rajound, Tarawadi, Kanina and Sadhaura. BJP and Congress party are the main parties in this contest. BJP’s mayoral candidates are Akshita Saini from Ambala, Shyamlal Bansal from Panchkula and Rajeev Jain from Sonipat. At the same time, Congress’s mayoral candidates Kulwinder Kaur from Ambala, Sudha Bhardwaj from Panchkula and Kamal Diwan from Sonipat are in the fray.
Votes were cast by 475,948 out of a total of 873,177 voters. State Election Commissioner Devendra Kalyan said that instructions have been issued to district election officers and returning officers to ensure transparency in counting of votes. He said the counting process would be closely monitored to maintain credibility. Special police security has been deployed at the counting centres. The officials have also ordered to keep a strict vigil on anti-social elements.
According to the Election Commission, the highest turnout of 79.2 percent was recorded in the Municipal Committee of Sampla. After this, 75.7 percent voting took place in Uklana and 72.4 percent voting took place in Dharuhera.
About 64.8 percent voting was recorded in Rewari Municipal Council. The high voter turnout in Sampla has left political observers confused as the area falls under the constituency of former chief minister Bhupendra Hooda and the BJP had fought the election on the party symbol. In the absence of any Congress candidate, Hooda had sought votes in favor of the candidate who was capable of defeating the BJP.
There was a direct contest between BJP and Congress in Sonipat and Rewari. The contest in Sonipat was between BJP’s Rajeev Jain and Congress candidate Kamal Diwan. In Uklana, BJP’s Nikita Goyal was facing a tough challenge from independent candidate Reema Soni. Similarly, in several city committees including Sampla and Dharuhera, several independent candidates made the contest multi-cornered.
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