Shot in arm for Nandi as wife wins Allahabad mayoral election

BSP-supported candidate Abhilasha Gupta, wife of former cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, was declared elected as the new mayor of Allahabad on Saturday.

She defeated her nearest rival — BJP candidate Kamla Singh — by 59,555 votes.

Abhilasha's victory came as a shot in the arm for Nandi, who had lost his City (South) constituency in the Assembly elections to Samajwadi Party's Haji Pervez Ahmed by just 414 votes.

With the wives of prominent local leaders from BSP and Samajwadi Party contesting the mayoral elections, this particular election was also being seen as an indication of how things might pan out in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has never won the mayor's post in Allahabad. The overall voting percentage for Allahabad Municipal Corporation was only around 29 per cent. There were 29 candidates for the post of mayor, which was reserved for women. The current incumbent was Congress's Chaudhary Jitendra Nath Singh.

Being the only party that had lent its symbol to its candidate, the BJP was also facing infighting with state secretary Shail Tanaya Srivastava quitting after she was denied the party ticket. She contested as an independent.

Congress-supported Shree Wadhawan and Jamunotri Gupta (independent candidate supported by the Samajwadi Party) were vying for the third and fourth place. There were at least three more independent candidates, all wives of local SP leaders, vying for the post of mayor.

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