Both Tandon, Tewari confident of victory

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, June 1

Contest between BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon and Congress’ Manish Tewari seems to be a close fight. The two parties have claimed victory with a comfortable margin.

After polling ended in the city under the final and seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections, city BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra said, “We are winning with 60 per cent vote share in Chandigarh. The Congress did not have its workers at many polling booths.”

City Congress president HS Lucky said, “We are fully confident that we will win this seat. Our alliance with AAP has worked for us and we have sailed through.”

Focus of the parties remained on colonies where long queues of voters were witnessed. The voters of these areas account for 46 per cent of the electorate.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which is fighting the city election in alliance with the Congress, has most of its councillors from colonies. This vote base could shift to the INDIA bloc candidate.

The BJP believes the voting pattern for the MC and parliamentary elections is different.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Dr Ritu Singh, who also focused her campaign on colonies and villages, may also spoil calculations of both AAP and the Congress.

Tewari had termed the BSP as the B team of the BJP. Hardeep Singh Butrela, who had quit SAD to join AAP, may dent the BJP vote share. After Butrela shifted sides, the SAD did not field anyone from Chandigarh.

Workers of the RSS were seen around polling booths encouraging people to vote in “rashtra hit.” Four-time MP and Cong stalwart MP Pawan Kumar Bansal had staye away from campaigning.

While Tandon relied on his “local connect” and “brand Modi”, Tewari, who earlier represented Ludhiana and Anandpur Sahib seats, is confident of emerging victorious due to “united and strong” alliance of the Congress and AAP.

The former BJP president, Tandon had repeatedly attacked the INDIA bloc candidate for changing constituencies. Tewari had slammed Tandon over the tampering of ballots by Anil Masih in the mayoral polls.

‘Fake’ video goes viral

As the voting started in Chandigarh, a “fake” news video, which claims that Congress-AAP alliance has broken in Chandigarh, went viral. It was reportedly aimed at influencing voters in colonies and villages of Chandigarh.

Polsters give Tandon edge

Axis My India exit poll has predicted win for Congress candidate Manish Tewari, while ABP News-CVoter and NDTV survey say the BJP’s Sanjay Tandon is winning in Chandigarh.

Nadda meets Malhotra

National BJP president JP Nadda held a meeting with local party president Jatinderpal Malhotra and candidate Tandon on Saturday evening. Nadda, who was returning to Delhi from Himachal Pradesh, called both leaders at the Chandigarh airport, sources said.