Chandigarh latest updates: Congress leader Manish Tewari wins in Chandigarh

Counting is set to begin in key constituency of Chandigarh

Congress leader Manish Tewari has won the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, defeating his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opponent Sanjay Tandon in a closely-fought contest.

After winning Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 and 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on the backfoot this time round, though it finally lost by a slender margin of 2,500 votes.

Update at 6.30 pm: Congress leader Manish Tewari's lead margin is now down to 2,504 votes, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) data.

Update at 2.45 pm: Congress' Manish Tewari is still leading in Chandigarh over BJP's Sanjay Tandon; however, the margin has now shrunk to just over 3,600 votes.

Update at 12.15 pm: Congress' Manish Tewari is currently leading in Chandigarh by a margin of over 10,000 votes. Sanjay Tandon is the BJP's candidate for this constituency.

Update at 11.15 am: Congress' Manish Tewari is currently leading in Chandigarh by a margin of over 5,000 votes. Sanjay Tandon is BJP's candidate.

Update at 10.30 am: Congress' Manish Tewari is leading in Chandigarh, as per the Election Commission website.

The city is witnessing a keenly-watched contest between Congress leader Manish Tewari and Sanjay Tandon, who replaced the current incumbent Kirron Kher as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate. Chandigarh is an electorally crucial constituency, given its status as the capital of the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

Former Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Tewari, a sitting MP from the Anandapur Sahib constituency in Punjab, is contesting as a joint candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress alliance. Tandon, a Chandigarh resident, is an old-timer in the BJP with strong family ties to the party’s ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He has been a six-time Punjab MLA, besides having been a municipal councillor for 14 years.

Also read: Chandigarh Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Key constituencies and candidates in Phase 7

Riding on the back of the Narendra Modi wave, Kher won this seat in 2014 as well as 2019. However, she pulled out of the race in 2024 amid health concerns. Opposition parties have criticised her performance as an MP, accusing her of being an inaccessible, absentee MP. In the 2014, she had defeated Congress' Pawan Bansal by a wide margin of close to 70,000 votes. In 2019, she won with a reduced margin of 46,970 votes. However, this time, some exit polls are predicting a victory for two-time MP Tewari, who is likely to gain from his party’s tie-up with AAP.

Chandigarh has a total of 6.47 lakh registered voters, comprising 3.35 lakh male voters, 3.12 lakh female voters, and 33 third-gender voters, as per Election Commission of India (ECI) data. Amongst these, 15,006 individuals belong to the age group of 18-19 and are first-time voters, while 4,799 voters are above 85 years of age.