BJP rebel Naveen Goyal is contesting as an Independent candidate from the Gurgaon assembly constituency.
His entry into the scene has complicated the field for BJP candidate Mukesh Sharma.
Political experts said Goyal is contesting the election in a very planned manner. Also, the induction of former BJP local leaders will help him to boost his election and woo voters.
In the past three days, three former BJP leaders, including Sumer Tanwar, Seema Pahuja and Anuradha Sharma, have given their support to Naveen Goel.
Sumer Tanwar represents the reserve community and was denied a ticket from the Pataudi assembly constituency. Seema Pahuja a Punjabi and former councillor was also denied a ticket from the Gurgaon seat.
Anuradha Sharma was also a senior BJP leader and a former district president.
However she is associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but surprisingly, she is not supporting the party's candidate, Dr. Nishant Anand, but an independent candidate.
On Tuesday, Anuradha Sharma, in a press meeting, accused the BJP government and said the BJP, despite being in power for the last 10 years, failed to address Gurgaon's civic issues.
Meanwhile, Goyal played an important role in establishing political dominance in the Gurgaon constituency as a ticket aspirant but failed to secure his ticket.
The political analysers said BJP would be intensed because the Gurgaon constituency has a considerable Punjabi and Vaishya population. It has nearly 80,000 Punjabis and over 50,000 Vaishya voters. Apart from this, there are about 15,000 to 20,000 Scheduled Caste (SC) voters.
However, the main contest is between BJP candidate Mukesh Sharma, Congress candidate Mohit Grover and Independent candidate Naveen Goyal, which made the contest triangular.
While campaigning in Gurgaon, Goyal appealed to the voters to vote for him and ensure that if the voters need development in their region, they must cast their vote in his favour.
When asked about contesting the election despite losing ticket, Goyal said, “I will not give up until I succeed. I have done multiple social work, especially in health services, while opening Aarogya Daam (a health facility) to common people and providing job opportunities to unemployed youths via my foundation.
I want to carry forward my work for the people of Gurgaon.”
He also asserted that apart from Vaishya and Punjabi he is confident of getting the vote of other castes and religions as well.
A resident of Gurgaon, Rohan Khurana, said, “Our sympathy is there with Naveen Goel as he is popular for his social work and a helping man. He is working and campaigning in 15 to 20 places every day. I don’t know whether he will win or not, but one thing is sure he will get good numbers of votes.”
Gurgaon district represents four Assembly segments — Gurgaon, Badshahpur, Sohna and Pataudi. Except for Badshahpur, which was won by an Independent candidate in the 2019 assembly elections, three Assembly seats are occupied by the BJP. Gurgaon will go to polls in a single phase on October 5.
