Creating history of sorts in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections, the results of which were announced on Saturday, the BJP emerged as the largest party and is set to rule the oldest municipal body of the country for the next five years.
The saffron party continued with its nationwide winning streak by emerging as the single largest party in the town hall elections as it bagged 17 out of 34 seats, just one short of majority. But the party is all set to grab the reins of the country’s oldest civic body for the first time by electing its Mayor with the support of an Independent candidate.
The Congress on the other hand failed to break the jinx as it came at number two position for the second time.
The party outperformed its previous tally of ten seats by bagging 13 seats. The CPI(M) managed to get just one seat, though the Mayor and Deputy Mayor during the previous tenure were from the party in direct polls.
Though the BJP could not reach the majority but the party seems all set to take reins of the Shimla MC as the Independent winning candidate, Rakesh Kumar, happens to be a BJP rebel and he is most likely to support the party. The two Independent candidates Sharda Chauhan and Sanjay Parmar being Congress supporters are likely to support the Congress. If the equations remain the same, a neck and neck contest will be the order to rule the Shimla Municipal Corporation.
The results come just a few months before the Assembly elections in the State. Political experts believe, the results indicate better performance by the BJP but not a poor show by Congress. The indications of a neck and neck race came soon after the conclusion of polling process on Friday, as less than 60 per cent voters came out to exercise their franchise, which was about 7 per cent less than the previous polls. The polling percentage made it clear that there was no wave in favor or against any political party.
The BJP was expecting better results because of ‘Modi factor’ and anti-incumbancy against the Congress. The final results made it clear that 12 seats went to the Congress, in addition to three seats won by independents owning allegiance to the party.
The results are also significant as both the Congress and the BJP for about three months had left not an inch uncovered during the campaigning. In fact, senior national leaders of both the major political parties camped at Shimla for the Town Hall polls. The results have left the field for assembly elections literally open for both the parties. At a time when BJP was claiming major public support following demonetization and other policies, the results have left people speculating for the political outcome of next assembly elections.
The Congress strategy of supporting candidates seems to have backfired as the party had announced its support to candidates on 28 wards. Out of these 28 candidates, 13 have emerged victorious. On the other hand, the confident strategy of BJP of sending party favored candidates in all wards resulted in party’s emergence as a single largest party.
BJP’s Puran Mal from Khalini seat recorded victory by the largest margin. He defeated Jeet Ram Panwar of Congress by a margin of 541 votes. For Congress the largest victory margin was achieved by Rita Kaffur, who defeated Sheetal Sharma of BJP by a margin of 469 votes.
The lowest victory margin was in Shanti Vihar ward, where six candidates were in fray. Independent candidate Sharda Chauhan won by 5 votes getting 530 votes, while her closest contestant Reena Verma got 525 votes. In all 7 candidates got victories by a margin of 400 plus votes, while two got a lead of more than 500 votes. In 8 wards the victory margin remained less than 50 votes, indicating how close the contest was.