UP civic polls: Two out of six for BJP in Gautam Budh Nagar

GHAZIABAD: Results for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Municipal elections were announced on Friday, with Bhartiya Janta Party successfully capturing the Mayoral seat in Ghaziabad for the sixth consecutive time since the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) came into existence.

Surprisingly, in Gautam Buddh Nagar District, BJP lost out on four out of six municipal bodies. Dadri and Rabupura seats were the only two won by the party.

BJP's Mayoral candidate from Ghaziabad, Asha Sharma, won defeated her closest rival, Dolly Sharma of Congress, by a resounding 1,63,647 votes.

On her way to victory, Sharma also defeated Bahujan Samaj Party's Munni Chaudhary, wife of strongman Satyapal Chaudhary. Aam Aadmi Party's Pragati Tyagi, meanwhile, finished with 13,656 votes.

In Dadri, BJP's Geeta Pandit won the elections, by defeating her closest candidate from BSP Hanji Ayyub Malik, with more than 2,500 votes.

In Rabupura, BJP's candidate Virendra Pratap Singh secured a win by defeating his closest competitor with 3,346 votes.

Among the four other seats in the district, Master Ajay Bhati, a BSP candidate, won from Dankaur seat. From Jewar, Samajwadi Party candidate Rajwati Devi stood first.

In Bilaspur and Jahangirpur seats, independent candidates Sabir Qureshi and JP Sharma, respectively, secured comfortable wins for themselves.

BJP also gained possession of all four nagar palika chairmen seats in GMC. The late BJP leader Gajender Bhati's wife Reena Bhati was elected chairperson of Khora Nagar Palika.

She defeated her closest rival, independent candidate Mohini Sharma (wife of former MLA Amar Pal Sharma, who is in jail for the murder of Gajendra Bhati) by more than 25,000 votes.

In Muradnagar, BJP candidate Vikas Teotia was elected chairman of Muradnagar Nagar Palika, while BJP candidate Ashok Maheshwari was elected chairman of Modinagar Nagar Palika.

In Loni, BJP candidate Ranjeeta Dhama was elected chairperson of Loni Nagar Palika.

Besides the five above mentioned seats, Haji Aarif from All India Council of the Union of Muslims won the Dasna seat, while BSP candidate Manoj Sharma won from Patla Nagar panchayat seat. Two independent candidates from Faridpur and Niwadi district also registered wins. Anwar Jamwal won from Faridpur, while Vimla Devi won from Niwadi.