Sonepat: Congress won at 37 polling stations, lost at 187

In the just-concluded Assembly elections in the state, the Congress candidate Surender Panwar won only on 37 polling stations out of a total 224 booths in Sonepat Assembly segment.

The BJP candidate Nikhil Madaan won the election by 29, 627 votes. Sonepat was a hot seat in these polls, as the Congress had fielded the sitting MLA Surender Panwar from here, while the BJP had fielded the first Mayor of the city Nikhil Madaan against him in the electoral battle.

Panwar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering and illegal mining case on July 20 and was sent to judicial custody. He was released from jail on September 23 and joined the campaign.

He is considered to be a close aide of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Congress’ former national president Rahul Gandhi held a public rally in Sector 15 here in support of Surender Panwar and also held a roadshow on October 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally at Gohana in support of 22 BJP candidates on September 25 and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a public rally in support of BJP candidate Nikhil Madaan on September 29.

But the results of Sonepat, Gohana, Kharkhoda and Rai shocked the Congress and the BJP won all four seats out of total six in Sonepat district.

The results in Sonepat City were a big shock to the Congress as Panwar was defeated at 187 polling booths in the city. The Congress won at only 37 polling stations in the city, while the BJP candidate won at 187 polling stations in the city. BJP’s Nikhil Madaan got a total of 84,827 votes from the city, while the Congress’ Surender Panwar had to contend with only 55,200 votes.

A senior Congress party leader said for the first time, the Congress had to organise Rahul Gandhi rally and roadshow in Sonepat seat, while it is considered a citadel of the former CM Bhupinder Hooda. But the Congress didn’t get any benefit by this roadshow and faced a big defeat from here. PM Modi and CM Biswa’s rallies in Gohana and Sonepat supported the BJP’s candidate.

Manoj Ridhau, media in charge, Congress, said the result at the Sonepat seat was very shocking for the party. The basic reason behind losing the election at Sonepat seat was that the party leaders were overconfident here, he added. The Congress party workers were in the thought that there was an anti-incumbency wave against the BJP and this would go in Congress’ favour and also thought that the sympathy votes would also favour Surender Panwar, but both proved wrong here, he said.

Apart from this, the BJP also succeeded in polarising voters at a grassroots level, he claimed.