Ruling BJP in Gujarat has inflicted yet another humiliating defeat to the opposition Congress by regaining power in Gandhinagar municipal corporation. In the 44-seat civic body, the BJP bagged 41 seats. The Congress could manage only two seats and debutant Aam Aadmi Party opened its account with one seat.
The result is a major down swing for the Congress. In the elections held in 2016, both the BJP and the Congress had equal number of seats. However, a Congress councillor had defected to the BJP and the latter had come to power.
The victory of the BJP comes within less than a month of Bhupendra Patel taking over as the chief minister of Gujarat. The BJP had not only changed the chief minister but also changed entire cabinet. Interestingly, it continued its experiment of no repeat theory and fielded new candidates in the GMC.
Gujarat BJP president C.R. Patil said that not repeating candidates was an experiment and it has worked for the party. The total vote share of the BJP has been more than that of the Congress and AAP combined together. The BJP bagged a total of 46.39 per cent votes, the Congress 27.99 and the AAP 21.72 per cent.
This victory is yet another shot in the arm for the BJP as the state goes to polls in the second half of 2022. Whether or not the AAP party will be successful at the hustings or not can remain a question, however, the indications are clear that Arvind Kejriwal-led party will surely eat into the Congress vote share.
This will be important considering that the Congress is trying hard desperately, but without results, to put breaks on the BJP’s victory. In 2017 assembly elections, the party had managed to stop the BJP’s tally at 99 in the 182-member assembly.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi observed that the anti-incumbency votes were getting divided.
In the results that were declared on Tuesday, the BJP won 136 out of the 184 seats in the GMC, three municipalities, bye-elections on two seats in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and few taluka panchayat seats. The only solace for the Congress came from Devbhoomi Dwarka where it snatched Bhanvad municipality from the BJP.
The Congress’ booth management was no match against that of the BJP. For the opposition party, the attempt of sending party leaders at the last moment for campaigning did not work.
