The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made gains in the Gujarat municipal elections as counting of votes for polls to 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities is underway in the state.
The BJP is winning 2,085 of 8,474 seats across various municipalities widening the gap with closest rival Congress. While the Aam Aadmi Party won 15 seats, where it has contested for the first time.
The BJP is leading in 67 of the 81 municipalities, with the Congress gaining in seven and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with one seat.
In the 31 district panchayats, BJP has swept the local body polls as the saffron party is leading on 30 seats while others are yet to register any leads. The saffron party is leading in 158 of 231 taluka panchayats while the Congress is ahead in seven.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is ahead in a few district panchayat seats in Bhavnagar and Amreli.
In a total of 8,474 seats, elections took place on 8,235 seats while the rest were unopposed.
The BJP swept the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar last week in which the party won 483 of 576 seats. AAP registered its presence by winning 27 seats in Surat while Congress failed to win any seat.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, on Thursday in Surat, said that AAP would seek votes from the people of the state in the next assembly polls based on the performance of the party’s 24 newly-elected corporators.
On the 8,235 seats, the BJP had fielded 8,161 candidates, Congress 7,778, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 2,090, among others. Apart from BJP, Congress, and AAP, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM has also contested in the local body polls in Gujarat.