BJP retains control over Gujarat civic body, Congress wins 2 seats

In all, BJP candidates romped home on 136 out of 184 seats in GMC, three municipalities, and by-elections to two seats in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and several seats in district and taluka (tehsil) panchayats.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday retained control over the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), winning 41 out of 44 seats, with the Congress managing just two seats and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party winning one.

Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel and state BJP president CR Patil show the victory sign after winning Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation Election, at BJP HQ in Gandhinagar, on Tuesday. (PTI)

In all, BJP candidates romped home on 136 out of 184 seats in GMC, three municipalities, and by-elections to two seats in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and several seats in district and taluka (tehsil) panchayats. The polling for all seats was held on Sunday.

The GMC win is particularly significant as it is BJP’s first in the elections to Gandhinagar, the seat of power in the state.

The win comes around 14 months ahead of assembly elections in the state, which are due by December 2022, and, with usual caveats of local body elections not being exactly representative of state polls, can be seen as the current state of play in Gujarat, where the Congress is hoping to repeat its heroics of 2017, when it ran the BJP close, and the AAP is hoping to make a successful debut.

GMC came into being in 2010 and in its first election in 2011, the Congress won 18 seats against the BJP’s 14. Four councillors led by mayor Mahendrasinh Rana, defected to usher in the BJP. In the 2016 elections, the BJP and the Congress won 16 seats each, but the former snatched power after a defection by a Congress councillor.

Out of the three municipalities (peri-urban bodies), the BJP retained Okha in Devbhoomi Dwarka in Saurashtra region and Thara in North Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, while the Congress sprang a surprise by snatching away Bhanvad municipality in Devbhoomi Dwarka district from the BJP.

These elections were the first after a new chief minister, Bhupendra Patel, a lawmaker from Ahmedabad city, and a fresh Cabinet took office less than a month ago.

Reacting to the results, the newly inducted chief minister and Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil taunted the AAP for making a huge noise but winning little, while they simply ignored any mention of the Congress party. “This is the reward for the BJP’s people-friendly policies,” they claimed, adding they were not surprised by the result.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, “The Gandhinagar results have demonstrated that the AAP is indeed a B-team of the BJP, which we have been stating right from the day one. In 2016, we had 46.93% of the vote share in GMC against BJP’s 44.76%. Now, the anti-BJP vote has split between the AAP and the Congress -- we got 27% and AAP got around 20%, while BJP got 51%.”

He pointed out that in Bhanvad Municipality, the Congress won in a straight fight , with 16 out of 24 seats; the rest went to the BJP.

Political scientist Ghanshyam Shah said he was not surprised by the results. “It is clear the BJP, which burnt its fingers in 2017 and earlier in 2015 local body elections, is focussing on the peri-urban and rural areas ahead of the assembly polls next year,” Shah said. He agreed that the AAP has split the anti-BJP vote, but pointed out, “The Congress can’t take solace in calling the AAP a B-team of the BJP. The Congress is in total disarray.”