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Bansal retains Chandigarh seat

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, MAY 13 .There was bonhomie in the Congress camp here today as the party candidate and outgoing MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal, managed to retain the lone Lok Sabha seat from Chandigarh by defeating Satya Pal Jain of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Mr.Bansal trounced his arch rival, Mr.Jain, by a margin of 45,248 votes while the former Union Minister, Harmohan Dhawan, who contested on the Indian National Lok Dal ticket, managed to get only 17,762 votes. Mr.Bansal polled 139,880 votes while Mr.Jain got 94,632. The BSP candidate, Hem Raj, polled 6,203 votes. Chandigarh has a total electorate of 507,646. However, only 268, 670 votes were polled. There were a total of 17 candidates in the race. According to data compiled by the Election Office, Mr.Bansal polled 52.06 per cent of the votes while Mr.Jain secured 35.22 per cent and Mr.Dhawan 6.61 per cent. The president of the local unit of the Congress, B.B.Bahl, attributed the Congress victory to the election rally addressed by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, here on May 2. He told this correspondent that the margin of the Congress went on increasing day by day after the May 2 "rally'' and "we did not need any other leader to campaign for the party.'' He also felicitated Ms. Gandhi for the overwhelming mandate given to the Congress in the general elections.

Meanwhile, Mr.Jain has conceded defeat and said that the "mandate is quite acceptable to him.'' 'In a statement, he said that he would continue to serve the people of Chandigarh and the BJP would review the reasons for its defeat in these elections and try to remove the lapses on its part.

Victory hailed

The former Union Minister and senior Chandigarh Congress leader, Venod Sharma, has welcomed the massive victory of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections and congratulated the people for reposing their confidence in the leadership of AICC supremo, Sonia Gandhi.

In a statement, Mr.Sharma said that the policies of the Congress being pursued under Mrs.Gandhi's leadership had received the stamp of approval and vindication from the people.

He further said that the people of the country wanted the NDA regime to bow out of power as it had not only failed to deliver the goods but its policies were making them feel "bad.''

The voters today were very much conscious about their rights and the verdict was a positive mandate for the people-friendly policies of the Congress and its allies.

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