Gujarat municipal elections: Early trends indicate big gains for BJP

After the counting of votes for six municipal corporations in Gujarat began at 9am, early trends showed that ongoing farmers protest, fuel price rise are not likely to dent the ruling BJP's vote bank locally. In all six civic bodies — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar — BJP was ahead. As the counting proceeded, BJP won 36 seats and Congress nine.

According to the latest trends, out of 192 seats in Ahmedabad, BJP was leading in 81, Congress in 15 and the AIMIM in two. In Surat, out of 120 seats, BJP was leading in 50 seats, Congress in 10 and the AAP in 19 seats. Out of 76 seats in Vadodara, BJP was leading in 36 seats, Congress in nine. In Rajkot, BJP was leading in 48 seats out of total of 72 seats.

Out of 64 seats in Jamnagar, BJP was leading in 23, both Congress and AAP in four. In Bhavnagar, BJP was leading in 30 seats and Congress in eight — out of 52 seats of the municipal corporation.

In a surprise, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) opened its account in Jamnagar for the first time. The party won three out of four seats in Ward 6 of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.

Follow live updates of Gujarat civic polls counting

Elections were held on Sunday for 192 seats across 48 wards in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, 120 seats across 30 wards in the Surat Municipal Corporation, 76 seats across 19 wards of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, 72 seats across 18 wards in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, 52 seats across 13 wards in the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation and 64 seats across 16 wards in the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.

Ahmedabad recorded the lowest turnout of 42.51 per cent, while Jamnagar saw the highest turnout of 53.38 per cent, followed by 50.72 per cent in Rajkot, 49.46 per cent in Bhavnagar, 47.84 per cent in Vadodara and 47.14 per cent in Surat. Of the total 1.14 crore voters registered in these major cities of Gujarat, 52.83 lakh had cast their ballots, the SEC said in a release.