After Assembly, BJP sweeps Gujarat civic polls

Ahmedabad: The BJP, on Tuesday, posted an impressive win in the Gujarat civic elections winning 47 of the 76 municipalities. [caption id=“attachment_623006” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Out of 75 municipalities, the results of which were declared on Tuesday by the State Election Commission, the BJP won 47, while the Congress won nine, officials said. The BJP won Halvad in Surendranagar and Kutiyana in Porbandar unopposed, while polling for the 74 other municipalities was held on Sunday. Counting for the Bhachau municipality was suspended as the seals of some of the EVMs were found to be broken and the election commission said that counting there would be held later. Independent candidates have emerged as a major block in nine municipalities while no party could manage a majority in 10 municipalities. BJP won 1,142 out of 1,905 seats across all municipalities while Congress won 442 seats and independents won 290 seats. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also made inroads by winning 13 and 16 seats respectively, whereas the Samajwadi Party (SP) won two seats. Gujarat Parivartan Party led by Keshubhai Patel claimed that 54 of the independents who won were its candidates. “If the SEC had provided us a common symbol in the municipal elections, we would have been able to win more seats,” party general secretary Gordhan Zadafia said. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, elated by the victory, said: “Thankful to people of Gujarat for the continued faith in us. Congrats to BJP workers for major win in municipalities polls.” State BJP spokesperson I K Jadeja said that besides retaining all the municipalities where BJP was in power, the party snatched 10 from the Congress party. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhwadia said, “Congress fought on its party symbol in 57 of the 75 municipalities while elsewhere, it contested the polls by forming ’nagrik samitis’. Actually, Congress has won 19 and lost another 10 by only 2 or 3 seats. The BJP fought on party symbol and misused the state machinery during the polls.” PTI