BJP dominates Gujarat, wins 62 of 68 municipalities

In what may be called the mid-term show of its electoral prowess, the BJP has swept the local body polls in Gujarat, winning 62 out of the 66 municipalities and 55 out of the 78 taluk panchayats.

The party also won Junagarh Municipal Corporation polls, bagging 48 seats out of 60 seats, leaving 11 for Congress and one for an Independent candidate.

It may be mentioned here that the BJP had already bagged 162 municipal seats out of 167, which went uncontested of the total 1,844 municipality seats. The Opposition Congress managed to win only one of the uncontested seats while four were bagged by others.


The BJP also won all the three by-elections of Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and Surat municipal corporations. In municipality by-elections, BJP managed to get 16 out of 21 seats and overall bagged 1,403 seats out of total 2,171, leaving 303 for Congress and rest for others.

These were the first local body polls after the state government had initiated 27% reservation for the OBCs.

In an interesting turn of events, Samajwadi Party wrested power on Ranvav and Kutiyana seats in Porbandar underscoring the grip of Kandhal Jadeja, son of God Mother Santokben Jadeja in Porbandar politics.

Meanwhile in Salaya Municipality, the BJP failed to win a single seat while the Congress won 15 and AAP 13 out of the 28 seats.

Gujarat BJP president CR Patil along with chief minister Bhupendra Patel reached party headquarters in Gandhinagar in the evening and addressed the party worker's celebratory gathering.