Less than six months after scoring a hat-trick of wins in Haryana Assembly elections, the ruling BJP swept the civic polls in the state on Wednesday, bagging nine of the 10 mayoral seats. In the outgoing municipal corporations, BJP had its mayors in seven civic bodies. Congress, which was looking to turn around its electoral fortunes after suffering a defeat in the 2024 Assembly polls, failed to open its account. The party lost in Sonepat, where it had its mayor, and Rohtak, considered a stronghold of its stalwart and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Independent candidate Inderjeet Yadav was the only non-BJP nominee to win a mayoral seat. She was elected from Manesar, where municipal elections were held for the first time. Celebrations erupted in the BJP camp after the results, with party leaders in Chandigarh and many districts distributing sweets. There were early Holi festivities as jubilant BJP members applied ‘gulal’ (colour) to each other.

After the results, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said people have put their stamp of approval on the works and policies of the BJP government and formed a “triple-engine government” which will work at a fast pace to realise the resolve of “developed Haryana-developed India”.

Polls to elect mayors and ward members in seven municipal corporations — Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar — were held on March 2. The bypolls for the mayoral posts in Ambala and Sonipat and the elections for presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees were also held that day.

The results have dealt another blow to the Congress which saw workers and leaders in districts switching over to the BJP ahead of the elections. The party state unit has been, in the past, plagued with infighting and factionalism unlike the BJP, which has a well-organised and strong organisational structure at the grassroots level.

Saini said people have put their stamp of approval on the works and policies of the BJP government. The “triple engine government”, a reference to the saffron party being in power at the Centre, in the state as well as in the civic bodies, will undertake development at three times fast pace to realise the resolve of a “Viksit Haryana-Viksit Bharat”, he told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing State Assembly session. “The results prove that people of Haryana want development and they have given their vote for good governance,” Saini said.

In Manesar, Independent candidate Inderjeet Yadav defeated her nearest BJP rival Sunder Lal by a margin of 2,293 votes to become the corporation’s first-ever mayor. Nikhil Madaan was the outgoing Sonipat mayor and a Congress leader. Ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls, he joined the BJP and won the Sonipat Assembly seat. Senior BJP leader Rajiv Jain won from Sonipat this time.