Congress retains control over SMC

Shimla, May 25 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress today maintained its stranglehold over the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), winning 15 seats out of a total of 25, while the BJP managed only eight and the CPM two.

While the Congress won 15 seats as compared to 16 last time, the BJP was a distinct second with eight seats only, its best performance in the corporation elections till date.

The CPM increased its tally to two by winning the Malyana seat (ward no 20), apart from the Summerhill (ward no five).

The Congress Party's Madhu Sood from Kanlog (ward no 25) won with the highest margin of 817 votes after polling 1,683 votes as against 866 to the BJP's Brij Sood and the Tutikandi seat (ward no eight) with the lowest margin of 105 votes.

The ruling Congress candidate from Engine Ghar (ward no 16) Harish Jnartha won by a margin of 572 votes, while the party's candidate from Dhalli (ward no 18) Sanjay Kumar won by a margin of 521 votes.

Seema Chauhan of the Congress defeated her nearest BJP rival from Kaithu (ward no three) by 498 votes, while the CPM's Dhani Ram Kashyap from Summerhill (ward no five) defeated the BJP's candidate, Sukh Ram, by a margin of 618 votes.

The Congress, however, suffered humiliating defeats in former Shimla corporation mayor Manoj Kumar from Jakhu (ward no 14) three times deputy mayor Shashi Shekar and five times Congress candidate from Lower Bazar (ward no 13) Ashok Sood who lost their seats to the BJP candidates.

The BJP, which was expecting to cash in on the state government's four years of anti-incumbency factor, could manage eight seats only and political analysts and locals felt wrong candidate selection by the party was its undoing.

However, the party's candidate from Nabha (ward no nine) Gaurav Sharma, who is pursuing MBA from the Himachal Pradesh University, humbled his nearest Congress candidate by a margin of 221 votes to be the youngest councillor in the SMC at 22.

The CPM besides retaining the Summerhill seat (ward no five), also won from Malyana seat (ward no 20) where its candidate Meera defeated Congress' Vasundhara by a margin of 158 votes.

Results of these local elections were being watched keenly by political parties, analysts and common people with the state assembly elections due in February 2008.

The victory in the SMC elections would give a big boost to the Congress' campaign in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-polls where its candidate state forest minister Ram Lal Thakur was facing tough opposition from BJP's former state chief minister P K Dhumal.

UNI