The ruling BJP suffered a massive defeat in the election to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram on Sunday, winning just 14 of 35 wards. The Independents won 20 seats, while one of the wards went to the Indian National Lok Dal candidate.
Among the prominent candidates to lose, Gurugram BJP MLA Umesh Aggarwal’s sister-in-law Himani Aggarwal lost to Independent candidate Promila Kablana in Ward No. 9. In Ward No. 19, Gau Sewa Ayog chairman Bhani Ram Mangla’s son Pramod Mangla lost to Ashwini, an Independent.
Mood of the masses
The voter turnout also saw a fall of around 8% with only 55.92% of the electorate exercising their franchise in municipal elections this year compared to 63.3% in 2011.
Conceding defeat, Senior BJP leader and election management committee member G.L. Sharma said there could be a host of factors responsible for the “unexpected” poor performance of the party in the elections and those need to be discussed. Senior party leaders, who did not wish to be named, blamed the results on the prevailing sense of anger among the electorate against the party’s performance at the national and State level.
“There is no denying that the results, among other things, reflect the mood of the masses. There is a sense of anger over the poor implementation of GST and failure of demonetisation,” said a senior leader.
Party rebels
He also blamed the goof-ups in the distribution of tickets. “The caste equations were ignored and deserving candidates were not given tickets. The result is there for all to see. In fact, most of the winning Independent candidates are BJP rebels who were denied tickets,” said the leader.
Infighting issue
Infighting among senior BJP leaders also affected the performance of the party.
Though the BJP had claimed a wave in its favour before the polls and also released a vision document, political observers felt that the party completely failed to address civic issues like waterlogging, waste management, roads and maintenance of parks.
The results also reflect the anger of the middle class over the failure of the MCG to take over licensed colonies despite assurances from the CM, long-pending Dwarka Expressway project and dilution of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act provisions.