Gujarat local body polls: BJP dominates, AAP impresses again

Counting of votes for polls to 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities in Gujarat is underway at 542 places in the state on Tuesday, the final figures of which were declared by the Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday.

As per the figures, district panchayats witnessed average voting of 66.67 per cent, taluka panchayats recorded voting of 66.86 per cent and municipalities witnessed average voting of 59.05 per cent.

Voting for around 7,998 seats of the local bodies was held on February 28. Prior to that, 237 seats were declared elected uncontested by various candidates. The elections witnessed a three-way contest between BJP, Congress and AAP.

The ruling BJP headed for a big win once again in Gujarat local polls, winning 2,085 of 8,474 seats across various municipalities that voted on Sunday and establishing a wide gap with closest rival Congress. Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took up from where it left last week, scoring again on its debut with 15 seats.

Continuing its good run in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, where elections are due next year, the BJP surged ahead in 75 of 81 municipalities, with the Congress’s seats dropping to four and AAP ahead in two.

The BJP is leading in all 31 district panchayats and it is ahead in 196 of 231 taluka panchayats, with the Congress ahead in 33.

AIMIM scores big in Modasa Nagarpalika polls wins 8 seats out of 12. Pushes Congress to number 3 in Modasa with just four seats and places itself at second after BJP which is at 19.

Last week, the BJP swept polls across six key municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, winning 483 of 576 seats. AAP registered its presence in Surat by winning 27 seats at the cost of the Congress, which failed to win any in that town.