BJP sweeps Gujarat local body polls, Congress tally improves marginally

Gandhinagar: Matching its unparalleled electoral victory in the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP notched up yet another spectacular electoral showing by sweeping the local body polls for the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JuMC), 68 municipalities, three taluka panchayats and by-elections to several local body seats on Tuesday.
Although the Congress improved its tally from 1 to 11, the BJP won the JuMC election comfortably, winning 48 of the 60 seats, with one seat bagged by an independent.
The saffron party also put up a remarkable showing in the municipality elections, bagging 62 of the 68 municipalities. The Congress could win just one municipality of Salaya in Devbhumi Dwarka district, losing 12 municipalities which it won in the last election held in 2018. The BJP also comfortably retained all three taluka panchayats: Gandhinagar, Kapadvanj and Kathlal.
Of the 1,840 seats in the 68 municipalities, BJP won 1,341 seats, while the Congress won 252 seats, independents won 151 seats, AAP won 27 seats, BSP won 43 seats, and others got 8 seats.
Of the 78 seats in three taluka panchayats that went to polls, the BJP won 55 seats, Congress won 17 seats, and independents won 6 seats, as the BJP bagged all three taluka panchayats.
The BJP also comfortably bagged all the three seats of the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat and Bhavnagar, for which by-elections were held. On the lone seat of Ghatlodia ward where by-election was held, BJP's Pravin Patel won a whopping 22,353 of the total 24,621 votes that were polled. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel represents Ghatlodia constituency in the Gujarat assembly.
The BJP won all the nine district panchayat seats for which by-elections were held. For the taluka panchayat by-elections for 88 seats, the BJP won 73, Congress won 12, AAP won two, and one independent candidate won a single seat.
Three persons sustained injuries when two groups resorted to stone pelting against each other during the counting of the Devgarh Baria election. Meanwhile, police detained two persons for flashing placards of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in a victory celebration at Mehmedabad.
Among the big upsets, Congress MLA from Somnath, Vimal Chudasama, lost in the Chorwad municipality election. BJP's Parth Kotecha, son of former Junagadh mayor Girish Kotecha, lost to Congress's Mahipatsinh Basiya, who joined the BJP soon after the election result was announced.
While AAP won 13 seats in the Salaya municipality which the Congress bagged, Samajwadi Party won the municipalities of Ranavav and Kutiyana in Porbandar district. The Kutiyana assembly seat was also won by Kandhal Jadeja on an SP ticket in 2022.
State party president C R Paatil attributed the electoral result to the leadership of PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, CM Bhupendra Patel and the hard work of the party cadre. "We wanted to win all the 68 municipalities, but our strike rate has been 96%. We won 51 municipalities in the last election. With the help of independents, we will be in power in 65 of the 68 municipalities. The Congress lost 12 of the 13 municipalities in which it was in power," Paatil said.
Chief minister Bhupendra Patel said the election result reflects good coordination between the govt and the state party unit and thanked voters for the resounding mandate. "The result shows the people's strong endorsement of PM's mantra of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'," Patel said.
GPCC president Shaktisinh Gohil said that the results are not disappointing given the circumstances, adding that the party will work harder among the people. "Results of local body elections are a reflection of the clout of MLAs. In 2018, we had 78 MLAs and the number is much lower this time. We lost municipalities where MLAs switched over to the BJP. Also, in some instances, we did not field candidates where like-minded parties were contesting or supported panels which were contesting against the BJP," Gohil said.
AAP won 6.09% of the vote share in the JuMC election, 4.28% of the vote share in the municipalities election, and 0.52% of the vote share in the taluka panchayat elections.
The party did not win any seat in the JuMC election and the taluka panchayat elections, but bagged 27 seats in the municipality elections.