Setback for BJP in Gurgaon civic polls

GURUGRAM: The BJP lost the Gurgaon civic polls on Sunday despite being the only party to contest in all 35 wards, winning just 14 of them and falling well short of the halfway mark (18).

The party must now bank on Independents, who put up a strong show and coasted to victory in 20 wards, to cobble up numbers it needs to put its own candidate in the mayor's chair.

Senior party functionaries said it was confident of doing that and controlling the House. But in a state where it runs the government, and in an election where it was the only major political force, the result was a big setback.

Congress did not contest — like the last MCG election in 2011, it backed some Independents. A recount was on in two wards when reports last came in. INLD put up candidates in 23 of the 35 wards, and backed Independents in other wards. It won just one seat.

Among the BJP candidates who lost were Himani Aggarwal, the sister-in-law of Gurgaon MLA Umesh Aggarwal, and Pramod Mangla, son of Haryana Gau Sewa Aayog chairman Bhani Ram Mangla.

The party's ticket distribution strategy appeared to have hurt it badly. In as many as seven wards, candidates (or their relatives) who left the BJP camp because they were ignored, contested as Independents and won.

In another ward, a close fight was going on till late in the night. Rao Inderjit Singh, the BJP MP from Gurgaon and Union minister, said, "We will analyse the results that have come in. Right now, we accept the verdict of the people."

Even though it went into the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) poll without any serious political rival challenging it, sources said there was unease in the BJP camp over distribution of tickets and the caste factor playing a role in deciding the outcome.

Party insiders said the BJP camp requested chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to hit the campaign trail himself, sensing it needed to field some big guns. "As the campaigning came to an end, the party realised it may not be able to win even a dozen seats and urged the CM to come and campaign," said a senior party functionary. "Among the high-profile seats was Ward 17 from which the probable mayor, Madhu Azad, was contesting.

The other seat for which the CM campaigned was that of the son of Bhani Ram Mangla." The MCG held its first election in 2011, and that one too was dominated by Independents (25 of them won).

BJP had won just four seats but a majority of Independents had switched support to BJP midterm, after Rao Inderjit Singh joined the party from Congress.

Captain Ajay Yadav, a minister in the former Congress regime, contested the verdict in two wards, alleging Independents backed by the party had been denied a win.

"Despite the fact that two Congress-backed candidates were winning, the administration declared the BJP candidate the winner in wards 4 and 6 after doing a recount. It is 11pm and I am still at the voting count and I will ensure that justice is done. I have spoken to the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon and have asked him to look into the matter," he said.

Madhu Azad, the BJP candidate who won from Ward 7 and is believed to be frontrunner for the mayor's post (reserved for a woman this time), was already looking forward to her new assignment. "I will take forward the projects like Swachh Bharat and Beti Bachao announced by Prime Minister Modi and CM Khattar to places where it is yet to reach," she said after she was declared victorious.