Speak Out: January 1, 2021

BJP spokesperson on Tuesday blamed the year-end holiday season for the ruling party’s failure to win the mayor’s post in Ambala, saying its core voters were away on vacation.

While the BJP could win only in Panchkula, the Congress and the Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) bagged mayoral posts in Sonipat and Ambala, respectively. The setback for the ruling coalition has come in the wake of the BJP sweeping mayors polls in five Haryana cities -- Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar – in 2018.

On why the party lost mayoral polls in Ambala, state BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said one of the reasons for the defeat could be the fact that many voters, who form the core vote bank of the party in urban pockets, went out on holidays and this resulted in low voter turnout. The voting percentage in Ambala Municipal Corporation elections was 56.3 per cent as against 67 per cent in 2013, when polls were last held.

“We witnessed a low polling percentage because many people were on vacations for year-end holidays starting December 25,” he said.

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