Haridwar/Rishikesh: Jubilant mood prevailed in the saffron camp throughout the day as the results of the civic elections for the Haridwar nagar nigam and the Rishikesh Nagar palika seats were so far largely in favour of the BJP.In Haridwar nagar nigam, of the total 60 wards, results were declared in 30 seats till 10pm. While the BJP bagged 21 of these wards, seven went to the Congress and remaining two were secured by independent candidates. This was during the fifth round of counting and the remaining four rounds are likely to be completed only by Wednesday morning, sources said.BJP district general secretary Vikas Tiwari said that they had expected the results. “We were confident that two third of the total seats will go to the BJP,” said Aniruddh Bhati, party candidate who won from ward no 1.A Congress supporter said that the party had banked on anti-incumbency but failed to gather much support.The picture was quite similar in Rishikesh where the BJP clinched 15 wards of the total 40 seats. While independent candidates secured 14 posts in the Rishikesh nagar palika, Congress won in the rest 11 wards. In a major shock, three-time Congress chairperson of Rishikesh nagar palika lost to BJP candidate Shiv Kumar Gautam from ward number 17.While independents performed well in Rishikesh, Congress workers said that most of them were rebel candidates who defected from the party.Interestingly, husband-wife Congress rebels, who contested for the first time as independents, won from both the places. Vikas Tewtia who contested from ward 23 won by a margin of 487 votes while his wife Tanu won from ward 24 with a margin of 476 votes.Local resident Deepak Negi said, “We voted for development and a candidate’s image is very important for us. We now hope that the new mayor and the ward members fulfill their promises.”BJP’s Jyoti Paswan who contested from ward number 25, won by the largest margin (1,039 votes ) in Rishikesh.

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