The Congress is on course for a second successive election defeat in Haryana.
Counting Wednesday morning for municipal body polls show the ruling BJP is leading in, or has already won, the mayoral seat for nine of 10 civic bodies, including in Gurugram and Rohtak, the bastion of Bhupinder Hooda, one of the Congress’ senior-most state leaders.
An independent candidate – Dr Inderjit Yadav, a rebel BJP leader – is ahead in the tenth, Manesar.
In fairness, the Congress – which slumped to defeat in the Assembly election last year despite racing into a big early lead – has only fought local polls under its own symbol only once before.
This time, though, the party fielded several candidates, including for the post of Mayor of Gurugram, which settled into a first direct contest – with the BJP – for the seat.
In response, the BJP unleased top leaders from the state – including Rajasthan Chief Minister Nayab Saini and his newly-elected Delhi counterpart, Rekha Gupta – during campaigning, which included door-to-door visits and grand roadshows. The Congress responded with former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and Hooda.
The result, nevertheless, has been one-sided, with the incumbent, the BJP’s Raj Rani leading the Congress’ Seema Pahuja by over 95,000 votes after six rounds of counting.