The Congress appears to be heading for a second consecutive electoral defeat in Haryana.

As of Wednesday morning, counting for the municipal body elections indicated that the ruling BJP was leading or had already secured victory in the mayoral races for nine out of 10 civic bodies, including Gurugram and Rohtak—the stronghold of senior Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

In the tenth civic body, Manesar, independent candidate Dr. Inderjit Yadav, a BJP rebel, was ahead.

Historically, the Congress has contested local elections under its party symbol only once before. However, this time, the party fielded multiple candidates, including for the mayoral seat in Gurugram, leading to a direct face-off with the BJP for the first time.

In response, the BJP deployed its top state leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Nayab Saini and newly-elected Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who campaigned aggressively through door-to-door outreach and grand roadshows. The Congress countered with former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and Bhupinder Hooda. Despite this, the BJP dominated, with its candidate Raj Rani leading Congress’ Seema Pahuja by over 95,000 votes after six rounds of counting.