In a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Panchkula municipal elections, the party secured 17 out of 20 seats, with Shyam Lal Bansal elected as mayor after garnering 68,544 votes. He defeated Congress candidate Sudha Bhardwaj, who received 32,292 votes, by a substantial margin of 36,252 votes. The BJP's success is seen as a boost to its existing power in both the central and state governments, as it previously held nine councillor positions and a mayor in the outgoing House.

The elections witnessed a voter turnout of 53%, with 1,10,702 voters participating out of 2,07,444 eligible voters. However, the opposition parties, particularly Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), raised allegations of electoral irregularities, claiming that the counting process was compromised. Bhardwaj accused the administration of collusion and stated that the CCTV camera monitoring the strongroom was non-functional during critical times.

In response, Bansal attributed the victory to the BJP's extensive campaigning, which included approximately 40 public meetings and the involvement of high-profile campaigners. The Congress party faced setbacks leading up to the elections, including the defection of former mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia to the BJP, which they acknowledged would impact their performance.