Timely win for BJP: 5 of 10 Cantt seats

Ward number 1 has been retained by Congress’s Sandeep Tanwar, who also contested last year. Wards 2, 3,4 and 6 have been retained by the BJP. Ward number 8, which the Congress won last year, has been won by the BJP.

However, the BJP lost ward number 7 to the Congress this year. The BJP also lost ward number 5 to the AAP despite fielding its candidate, Lal Chand Mehrolia, who had won the seat last year.

The BJP is also conscious of the fact that only those who were fielded afresh have won the seats.

A senior leader said that this has been discussed in the BJP core group meeting while analysing the victory.

Ward number 2 was won by Rachna Kadyan who contested for the first time. Earlier, her husband Pardeep Kadyan had won.

Ward number 3 councillor Kavita Jain also contested for the first time. 21-year-old Jagat Singh Lohiya, newly elected councillor from ward number 4, is the youngest candidate fielded by the BJP.

Retired Colonel Narendra Chowdhary won ward number 6 while ward number 8 was won by a former HR manager, Priyanka Choudhary.While Congress leader Sandeep Tanwar is a former member of the Delhi Cantonment Board, party leaders said that Vimal — who won number ward 7 — is also a local Congress heavyweight. “He has been the former block Congress president and has also been a councillor. Both candidates have immense local support,” a senior leader said.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said, “The AAP candidate Surender Singh had won the Delhi Cantt seat in the last Assembly polls. Now, in the Delhi Cantt polls the BJP has won five seats, the Congress two and the AAP one out of the 10 seats.”AAP’s Nand Kishore Beniwal won ward number 5. Unfazed by the party’s performance, AAP spokesperson Ashutosh said, “We are rather happy that we have managed to open an account in the local polls.”

Reacting to the results, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “People of Delhi Cantonment area have given an answer to Modi’s rally. They never used to vote for Congress. Now, there is a difference of only 700 votes between the BJP and us, while the AAP is a distant third. The Gujarat model has failed in Delhi.”