From Gujarat to bypolls, Amit Shah uses BJP wins to hit back at Rahul on SIR

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the BJP had won 90 of the 104 seats in civic elections held across three urban local bodies in Gujarat.

In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, which falls under his Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP secured 38 of the 44 seats. Meanwhile the Congress won five and an Independent candidate bagged one.

Taking a swipe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shah said the party had contested all 32 seats but failed to win any, with all its candidates losing their security deposits.


Shah said the results showed that voters in Gujarat continued to back Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also highlighted that the BJP's vote share in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation had increased by 10% as compared to previous election.

Shah said the elections were conducted using ballot papers, countering arguments that electronic voting machines (EVMs) helped the BJP win elections.

He said no Congress chief minister had won in Tripura for 33 years and that the party had not achieved a victory in West Bengal for 54 years. Shah added that the Congress had faced defeats in states such as West Bengal, Tripura and Gujarat for three, four or even five decades.

Shah also told Rahul Gandhi to be ready for a major loss in the 2029 elections.

With reference to the bypoll results in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Shah said the Congress had failed to win a single seat across the three regions.

He said the BJP had won the Naogaon seat from Congress, winning by a margin of 1.42 lakh votes. In Nandigram, the BJP candidate secured 76% of the votes and won by 1.22 lakh votes, he added.

In West Bengal's Rejinagar, Shah said the BJP defeated the Trinamool Congress by more than 75,000 votes to capture the seat.

In Puducherry, he said the NDA's ally, All India NR Congress (AINRC), won by 8,482 votes, while Congress managed to secure just 22% of the vote.