Battle For Ghaziabad: General Singh comes out in front

GHAZIABAD: Though he was not able to replicate his record victory margin of 2014, Gen VK Singh’s (retd) win in this general election was no less spectacular.
The junior external affairs minister on Thursday trounced his nearest rival, Suresh Bansal of Samajwadi Party, by a margin of nearly 5 lakh votes to win the Ghaziabad seat for the second time in a row.Congress’s Dolly Sharma came a distant third.
“People have reposed trust in the Modi government for all the good work we have done in the past five years and we will continue with the same in our second term,” the former Army chief told TOI. Asked whether he was vying for a berth in the cabinet, Singh said, “I will accept whatever role my party gives me”.
In 2014, Gen Singh had defeated his nearest rival, Raj Babbar of Congress, by a whopping margin of over 5.7 lakh votes. And this time around, his victory margin crossed 5 lakh. Ghaziabad recorded 55.8% voting percentage this year, which was marginally less than what had been in the last general election.
With Singh up against SPBSP-RLD alliance’s joint candidate Bansal, pollsters had earlier predicted a neck-toneck triangular fight with Congress’s Dolly Sharma also in the fray. But when results were declared, it was Gen Singh all the way, even though Bansal managed around 4.3 lakh votes. Sharma was not even in the competition.
At the very first round of counting, Gen Singh had started taking the lead, except in the Muradnagar assembly constituency where Bansal was ahead. Soon, the Armyman took the lead there too. By the end of round 26, he had emerged as a clear winner. “The fate of the gathbandhan (coalition) was doomed from the word go,” he said.
Bansal, who did gave Gen Singh a few nervous moments, was crestfallen. “What can I say when I have lost the election? It is the voters who are supreme. It’s Modi magic that worked for BJP,” he said.
Sharma, unlike Bansal, appeard to have gone into a sulk. Despite numerous attempts, she could not be contacted.