Jamshedpur: The BJP has pulled off a double success in the maiden Adityapur Municipal Corporation elections with both the mayor and deputy mayor posts being bagged by party candidates even if by moderate margins.
BJP loyalist Vinod Srivastava (62), declared the first mayor of the industrial town on Friday, defeated his nearest rival Yogendra Sharma of Congress by 7,950 votes. Srivastava's new deputy Amit Singh (42), on the other hand, beat JMM candidate Manoj Mahto by 10,663 votes.
The total votes polled in Adityapur on April 16 was 1.09 lakh. Srivastava received 18,992 votes and Sharma 11,042. The BJP's deputy mayor candidate polled 24,359 and his closest contender from JMM bagged 13,696 votes.
Srivastava attributed his victory to none other than the Prime Minister who has been the BJP's poster boy since 2014.
"I won (the civic poll) because of Narendra Modi who rules the heart of people in Adityapur. Modi ji has become synonymous with 'vikas (development)' and that is why people voted me to the top post," the mayor told this newspaper, adding that he would work hard to prove his mettle not only in Adityapur, but also in the adjoining industrial hub of Gamharia.
Counting started at Kashinath Sahu Memorial College in Seraikela, 35km from here, at 8.30am (instead of 8am) and piqued interest from the beginning.
In the first of the total eight rounds, Ajsu Party's mayoral nominee Sachin Mahto was ahead of the BJP by 200 votes. In the second round, Srivastava beat him to lead the race followed by JMM's Ranjit Pradhan.
From the second to the sixth round, JMM maintained its position while Srivastava led the race. In the seventh round, Sharma of Congress captured the second position, but Srivastava was already ahead by over 6,000 votes and the last round was mere formality before the BJP won the chair.
Sharma, who left the counting venue after the sixth round, said Congress needed to be more organisationally strong in Adityapur to sway votes. "Still, I am glad that over 11,000 people favoured me," he said.
Adityapur resident and voter Amar Singh said the BJP frontrunner had maintained a very low profile and had not carried out a door-to-door campaign like Sharma. "Srivastava perhaps knew that people here are diehard supporters of Modi and they would vote for the lotus."
The scorching sun notwithstanding, over 1,000 supporters of the 14 mayoral candidates in the fray waited impatiently for the results outside the counting centre till 2pm. Loyalists of the BJP began celebrating Srivastava's victory with drum beats and gulal after the seventh round.
Seraikela-Kharsawan deputy commissioner Chhabi Ranjan and Seraikela SDO Sanjiv Kumar Dubey ensured peaceful counting along with SP Chandan Kumar Sinha.
