Elections to the civic body take place one year after Manohar Lal Khattar’s re-election. (Archive)
Chandigarh / New Delhi:
A month after thousands of farmers began protesting the new farm laws near Delhi’s borders, the ruling BJP-JJP combined in neighboring Haryana has suffered a blow in the municipal corporation elections. The ruling coalition has lost the mayoral elections in Sonipat and Ambala, touted as a battle of prestige a year after the state elections. Chief Deputy Minister Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata party lost the local polls on their own ground, Hisar’s Ukalana, and Rewari’s Dharuhera.
Civic body elections in Ambala, Panchkula, Sonipat, Dharuhera from Rewari, Sampla from Rohtak and Uklana from Hisar were held on Sunday. The vote counting started this morning at 8 a.m.
Congress won Sonipat by a margin of nearly 14,000 votes. Nikhil Madaan will be the first mayor of Sonipat. Resentment against the new farm laws was the reason for the loss of the BJP, the rival Congress claimed. “Congress has won the Sonipat mayoral elections by a large margin. Congress: 72,111. BJP: 58,300. Remember, Sonipat is just off the Singhu border and is the epicenter of farmer agitation in Haryana and UP Almost a year after the BJP-JJP Alliance formed a government in Haryana, (sic), “Congress leader Srivatsa tweeted this afternoon.
Congress won the Sonipat mayoral elections by a large margin
Congress: 72,118
BJP: 58,300Remember, Sonipat is right next to Singhu Border and is the epicenter of the farmers’ turmoil in Haryana and UP.
RT & spread bcos Paid Media & BJP won’t talk about it#FarmersAppealTotalRepeal
– Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) December 30, 2020
In Ambala, Shakti Rani Sharma of the Haryana Janachetana Party will be the mayor after she won by more than 8,000 votes. She is the wife of the head of the HJP, Venod Sharma, a former leader of Congress and a former trade union minister. Her son Manu Sharma was convicted in the Jessica Lal murder case.
The BJP is ahead in Panchkula where the votes are counted. His coalition partner JJP, who has a strong rural base, has lost the polls in Dharuhera in Rewari and Uklana of Hisar, his homeland.
Farmers’ agitation had put Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala’s JJP in a bind after Akali Dal left the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in September to protest legislation, which the government says are aimed at bringing reforms pending since long time in the sector. Farmers say the laws will leave them at the mercy of private actors.
Dushyant Chautala is the grandson of farmer leader and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, who is in jail for corruption. He had previously said that he would resign if he could not guarantee a minimum price support for farmers’ produce, a key demand from the protesters.
Last week, he faced a boycott in his local district, Uchana Kalan in Jind, when villagers dug up a helipad before his visit.
Several other villages in Haryana called for a full boycott of all party leaders in the state’s ruling coalition amid protests. Most of the protesting farmers outside Delhi are from Haryana and Punjab.
Last month, Manohar Lal Khattar’s government was severely criticized for its handling of protesters, who faced water cannons and truncheons, as they marched into the national capital.
Thousands of people camping outside Delhi are demanding the repeal of the new laws that were passed by parliament without much debate.
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