Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opened its account in the civic elections. Huma Khan of AAP defeated the SP candidate from Sahaspur Nagar Panchayat in Bijnor, Reports Aruna Sharma in Governance Democracy&Politics (GDP), December Issue
- Independent candidate Nadira Khatun, a woman, won the corporator seat from ward 68 in Gorakhpur where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had cast his vote. It was reserved for women. BJP’s Maya Tripathi lost the seat to an independent candidate. However, the BJP has won 27 seats, the maximum in Gorakhpur. It is followed by 18 won by Samajwadi Party (SP) and two each won by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress. Independents have also won 18 seats.
- Results in at least two places were decided by lucky draw. An independent candidate won through lucky draw from ward number 15 of Khatauli municipality in Muzaffarnagar. Two candidates – Gurudutt Arora (independent) and Haroon of SP – got 486 votes. The winner was decided by a lucky draw. Lucky draw was also held in the temple town of Mathura. In the city’s ward number 56, both the BJP and Congress candidates polled 874 votes each. The Election Commission then held a lucky draw, which was won by BJP’s Meera Agarwal.
- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opened its account in the civic elections. Huma Khan of AAP defeated the SP candidate from Sahaspur Nagar Panchayat in Bijnor.
- In a major setback to the Congress and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, BJP candidate Chandrama Devi won from Amethi Nagar Panchayat. Rahul is the Lok Sabha MP from Amethi and is all set to replace his mother Sonia Gandhias the Congress president this month.
- BJP has registered victory for the chairperson’s post from Dadri Nagar Panchayat. BJP’s Geeta Pundit defeated her nearest rival Ayyub Malik of BSP. Dadri had shot into news for the lynching of Md Akhlaq over the beef controversy.
- BJP candidate Mridula Jayaswal has registered victory over Congress’ Shalini Yadav for the post of mayor from Varanasi by a margin of 78,843 votes. The result assumes significance because Prime Minister Narendra Modirepresents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha.
- The BJP got a jolt in Muzaffarnagar where Anju Agrawal of the Congress was victorious. Muzaffarnagar, which had witnessed riots in 2013, had sent the BJP in the Assembly election held earlier this year.
- The BJP received another setback in Deoband municipality where Ziauddin Ansari of the BSP defeated BJP candidate Mahendra Saini by a margin of about 6,000 votes. The BJP had won the Deoband seat in the Assembly election. Muslims make 65 per cent of Deoband’s population. It is the seat of Darul Uloom movement of Islam.
- BSP has received a huge boost by winning the mayor’s post in Aligarh. BSP candidate Mohammad Furkan has defeated BJP’s Rajiv Agrawal by 11,990 votes to claim the mayoral seat.
- The epicentre of communal divide, Ayodhya, has returned BJP candidate Hrishikesh Upadhyay for the mayoral seat .
