The BJP on Wednesday won municipal elections held across Haryana with its mayoral contestants claiming thumping victories in Gurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak, Ambala, Panipat, Sonipat, Hisar, Karnal and Yamunanagar.
In Manesar, however, independent candidate Inderjit Yadav secured the polls. The Congress drew a blank, reflecting the sentiments seen during the assembly polls last year.
Gurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal and Yamunanagar went to polls on March 2 along with the mayoral bypolls in Ambala and Sonipat. The elections for presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees were also held the same day.
A week later, Panipat saw elections for the mayor and 26 councillors on March 9.
List of winning mayoral candidates
Gurugram
BJP candidate Raj Rani won by 1,79,485 votes against Seema Pahuja.
Faridabad
BJP's Parveen Joshi won by a margin of more than 3,16,000 votes against Congress's Lata Rani. This is the highest margin recorded in mayoral polls in the country.
Rohtak
BJP mayoral contestant Ram Avtar Valmiki won by a margin of 45,198 votes against Surajmal Kiloi.
Ambala
Shailja Sachdeva of the BJP won the mayor by-election against Amisha Chawla.
Panipat
BJP's Komal Saini won with 162,075 votes against rival Savita Garg.
Sonipat
BJP candidate Rajiv Jain won with 57,858 votes against rival Kamal Deewan.
Hisar
BJP candidate Parveen Popli claimed victory by a margin of 64,456 votes against Congress's Krishan Singla.
Karnal
BJP's Renu Bala secured 83,630 votes to defeat Manoj Wadhwa of the Congress.
Yamunanagar
Suman Bhamani of the BJP emerged victorious against Congress's Kirana Devi.
Manesar
Independent candidate Dr Inderjit Yadav defeated BJP's Sundar Lal with a slight margin of 2,235 votes.
Ahead of the elections, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the BJP would win the polls and a "triple-engine" government would speed up work by three times.
However, the voter turnout for the municipal elections was just 41 per cent compared to 68 per cent during the assembly elections.