India, March 12 -- In a major setback for the opposition Congress, BJP candidate Ram Avtar Valmiki was on Wednesday declared winner of the Rohtak mayoral election. Valmiki defeated Suraj Mal Kiloi of the Congress by 45,198 votes.

Valmiki polled 1,02,269 votes, while Suraj Mal got 57,071 votes in the high-stakes election.

The Rohtak mayoral election results are a major setback to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the Congress candidate lost the battle despite the party winning all four assembly seats in the assembly polls in October last year.

Interacting with the media, Valmiki, who lost three consecutive assembly elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019 from Kalanaur (SC) seat in Rohtak, said he owes his victory to residents of R...