ML Khattar said the win is people's endorsement of the government's policies. (File)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has given credit to his government's policies for his party BJP's win in mayoral elections in five cities of the state. He said the win is people's endorsement of the government's policies. The BJP's mayoral candidates from Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar registered victories in the elections held on Sunday. Apart from the win in mayoral polls, the BJP also won in Karnal, Panipat, and Yamunanagar municipal corporations' polls.
"People have endorsed our government's policies, our development agenda and various initiatives which we have taken to take the state forward during the past four years. It is a stamp of approval from the public' ... This is victory of our government's achievements. To serve people has been our priority and will remain so in future also," he said.
The Congress did not contest the mayoral elections, but some of its leaders had extended support to independent candidates.
In Panipat, Avneet Kaur dealt a major defeat to her rival Anshu Kaur. Her margin of victory was a massive 74,940 votes. In Karnal, which is Mr Khattar's constituency, Renu Bala Gupta defeated Asha Wadhwa, who was supported by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress.
Gautam Sardana defeated Rekha Aren by a margin of 28,091 votes to register win from Hisar. Manmohan Goyal defeated Congress-supported Sita Ram from Rohtak by a margin of 14,776 votes while in Yamunanagar, Madan Singh defeated Rakesh Kumar.
Mr Khattar said the win was special as the election was fought between the BJP and all the other parties. "Had all the opposition parties contested the elections on their symbols, we would have won with much higher votes. There are many other councillors also who have expressed their faith in the BJP after their victory," he said.
Mr Khattar said he hoped his party would continue getting people's support in upcoming elections. "We are enthused by the poll results and hope that the people would continue to support us in the forthcoming Jind by-election, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections slated to be held in 2019," he said.
BJP president Amit Shah congratulated Mr Khattar for the win.
With inputs from agencies