Chandigarh: Manish Tewari pulls off victory in close contest
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, June 4
Congress candidate Manish Tewari reclaimed the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat for the Congress after a decade, defeating BJP’s first-timer Sanjay Tandon, son of late RSS leader and former Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Dass Tandon, with a thin margin of 2,504 votes.
Tewari polled 2,16,657 votes, while his arch rival Tandon garnered 2,14,153 votes. Tewari’s voter percentage was 48.30 compared to Tandon’s 47.74.
After the first round of counting, Tewari maintained the lead and the margin increased to 10,485 votes after seventh round. In the eighth round, the margin slightly decreased to 10,194 and the trend continued till 12th round when the lead was decreased to 4, 991 votes. In the meantime, Tewari regained the lead by 6,079 votes, which further reduced in the 14th round to 3,689. However, after the 15th round, the margin was further reduced to 2,504 votes.
Advantage INDIA bloc in MC House
INDIA bloc candidate Manish Tewari’s win will strengthen the alliance in the Municipal Corporation. The MP is an ex-officio member in the House and its vote plays a crucial role in the voting during mayoral polls. For the past 10 years, the BJP had the edge due to the vote of its MP Kirron Kher. At present, the BJP has 15 councillors, AAP 13 and the Congress seven in the MC House. Now, Tiwari’s vote will also be added to the alliance’s tally.
The counting of votes concluded around 3 pm, but after that a drama unfolded at the centre when Tandon raised objections to the counting of votes and demanded a recounting. However, it took the UT Election Department nearly four and a half hours to set aside the objections raised by Tandon and declare Tewari the winner. In the meantime, Congress workers raised slogans against the BJP for deliberately delaying the election results on frivolous issues. A handful of BJP supporters present there countered the Congress by raising slogans in support of PM Narendra Modi.
Supporters of both the Congress and BJP arrived near the counting centre and indulged in sloganeering in support of their leaders.
Tewari’s victory was hard-fought, as he faced criticism from opponents who labelled him an outsider. Additionally, opposition from former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s camp posed further challenges, but Tewari successfully navigated these obstacles to secure the win.
Congress leaders said despite all odds, the hard work put in by the local leaders and workers helped the party to secure victory.
They said Tewari received a huge support from colonies and villages, but he got a major chunk of nearly 4,000 votes from Sector 25 colony. He also got a good number of votes from areas such as Dadu Majra, Maloya and Ram Darbar. However, he got a jolt from Maulijagran, Mani Majra and Burail.
The support from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that had secured 14 out of total 35 seats in Municipal Corporation (MC) elections in 2021 further bolstered Tewari’s position. Of the total votes, 2,912 were None of the Above (NOTA) votes.
BSP candidate Ritu Singh received the third highest number of 6,708 votes, followed by Independent Lakhvir Singh, who polled 2,626 votes. Another Independent, Kuldip Rai received the lowest 114 votes. A total of 19 candidates were in the fray. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s vote share was 50.64 per cent and the Congress’ 40.35%. AAP’s share was dismally low at 3.82%.
Similarly, in the 2014 Parliamentary elections, the BJP’s vote share was 42.20% and that of the Congress 26.84%, followed by AAP at 23.97 per cent. In both elections, BJP’s Kirron Kher defeated Congress’ Pawan Kumar Bansal.
