Rebel candidates aspirations fall short in Faridabad, Palwal; spoil game of party candidates

All candidates who chose to contest as Independent after denial of a ticket by their parties failed to emerge victorious in various segments falling in Faridabad and Palwal districts. However, their decision to remain in the field as rebels came out as a spanner in the wheel for the official party candidates and a victory for the main opposition party.

While Sharda Rathore from Ballabgarh and Lalit Nagar from Tigaon had been the Congress party rebel candidates, Nayan Pal Rawat, Deepak Dagar at Prithla and Kehar Singh Rawat at Hathin had been from the BJP, who lost as Independent candidates despite making the contest a multi-corned one.

Sharda Rathore, a former two-time MLA of the Congress gave tough time to Mool Chand Sharma, a Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader before she lost by a margin of 17,730 votes at Ballabgarh segment. Though Sharma made a hattrick, the result led to embarrassing moments for the supporters of the Congress party as its official candidate Parag Sharma could get only 8,674 votes. While Parag had been a novice or first timer, she failed to get the support of any star campaigner including former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda or any senior national leader in the campaign.

Tigaon is the second segment where Rohit Nagar, the official candidate of the Congress had to be content with 21,656 votes and finished third behind Rajesh Nagar of BJP and Lalit Nagar an Independent  candidate. Lalit had been a Congress party rebel as he was denied the party ticket . Though Lalit lost by a margin of 37,401 votes to the BJP candidate, it is claimed that the contest could have been close if the Congress had put a united face.

Prithla segment is the third seat which also witnessed a similar situation. While Congress candidate Raghubir SinghTewatia won with a margin of 20,541 votes over the BJP rival Tek Chand Sharma, entry of two rebel candidates of BJP made the win of the Congress party easier as Nayan Pal Rawat (22,023 votes) and Deepak Dagar(16,055 votes) took a total of over 38,000 votes that could have gone to BJP if they had not contested or supported Sharma, according to some of the poll analysts.  Interestingly Prithla is the only segment in the Faridabad and Palwal district which has not fallen to the BJP so far since it came into being in 2009.

Hathin a segment in Palwal district  witnessed a similar game, when two Independents who reportedly contested as rebels of BJP managed to take away 15439 votes resulting in a direct loss to the official candidate who lost by a margin of 32,396 votes against the Congress rival. The INLD candidate also dented the margin of both the winner and the loser as he fetched around 37,843 votes.