Gujarat Local Body Poll Results: BJP Nears Clean Sweep, Congress Trounced; AAP Makes Stirring Inroads

The counting of votes for 8,474 seats across 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats in the state began at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Out of the total 8,474 seats, the candidates on 237 seats remain unopposed and no form was filled for two seats in taluka panchayat.

(File Photo/ Getty)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday bagged a landslide victory in the Gujarat rural local bodies polls soon after the counting of votes for 8,474 seats across 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats ended. Out of the total 8,474 seats, the candidates on 237 seats remain unopposed and no form was filled for two seats in taluka panchayat.

As per latest reports, the BJP emerged victorious in as many as 733 of the 980 district panchayats where voting was held. The Congress emerged a distant second by winning 157 seats. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged victorious on 2 seats while the Bajujan Samaj Party (BSP) managed to bag just one seat. The others in the contest won 4 seats.

As per latest update, the BJP won 3,018 of the 4,774 tehsil panchayats where voting was held last week. The Congress emerged victorious in 1,121 tehsil panchayats. The AAP bagged 28 seats while the BSP won 4 seats. The others won 16 seats.

The BJP also delivered a spectacular performance in the Municipality polls, winning 1,948 of the 2,720 seats up for grabs. The Congress won 351 seats, the AAP emerged victorious on 9 seats while the BSP managed to win just 6 seats. The independents won 160 seats while others grabbed 24 seats.

Soon after the election results were announced, PM Modi took to Twitter and said that the results of the Nagar Palika, Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat polls across Gujarat give a crystal clear message that Gujarat is firmly with the BJP’s agenda of development and good governance. 

Meanwhile, in view of the Congress’ debacle in the local bodies’ elections in Gujarat, state unit president Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani resigned from their posts.

“Taking the responsibility of the election results as the state Congress chief, I have submitted my resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi,” Chavda told the media, adding that he would from now on work as a common party worker.

Chavda further said the people had raised doubts about the EVMs and demanded a probe into the matter. “The election results are totally opposite to what our expectations were. We had received good response from the people during our campaigning but the results do not reflect it,” he added.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi confirmed that Dhanani had also sent his resignation to the party leadership in Delhi. “The party leadership has received both resignations. Now, it is up to the party brass to decide on the replacement of these leaders,” he added.

Doshi further said the Congress’ central leadership has asked both Chavda and Dhanani to continue on their posts till the time their replacements are announced. Commenting on the resignations, a party spokesperson said that it was now up to the Congress top brass to decide the future course of action.

The BJP had earlier last month won all the six municipal corporations in the first phase of civic polls in Gujarat.