The results of the Gujarat local body elections held on 26th April witnessed an electoral sweep by the BJP on all 15 Municipal corporations. The party made a clean sweep in Morbi and Porbandar Municipal Corporations, bagging all 52 seats in both the local bodies. The BJP also emerged victorious in the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gandhidham, Surendranagar, Mehsana, Anand, Nadiad, Navsari and Vapi.
Out of 1,044 seats on which polls were held across the 15 municipal corporations, the BJP won 937 seats. The Congress Party secured 95 seats, and the remaining 12 seats went to other parties, including the AAP, which won 6 seats.
In Ahmedabad, the BJP won 160 seats out of the total 192, while Congress won 32. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which bagged several seats in Ahmedabad in the 2021 elections, failed to get even one seat.
In Nadiad, the BJP won 51 out of 52 seats, while the Congress secured only one seat. In Navsari, the BJP won 50 out of 52 seats. In the Surat Municipal Corporation, out of 120 seats, the BJP won 115, and the Congress won one seat. As against 27 seats won in the last elections, the AAP managed to secure only four seats in the municipal corporation.
In the Rajkot Municipal Corporation elections, the BJP won 65 out of 72 seats, while the Congress won the remaining 7 seats. In Surendranagar as well, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 51 out of the total 52 seats. The BJP won 69 out of 76 seats in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation elections, while the Congress secured 6 seats. One of the seats was won by an independent candidate.
In the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation, the BJP has won 44 seats out of 52 seats. The Congress party won the remaining 8 seats. Out of the 52 seats in the Vapi Municipal Corporation, the BJP won 37 seats, and the Congress won 11 seats. The remaining four seats were won by independent candidates.
In the Gandhidham Municipal Corporation, the BJP bagged 41 out of 52 seats, and the Congress won 11 seats. Out of the 52 seats in the Anand-Karmsad Municipal Corporation, the BJP secured 43 seats, and the Congress got 8 seats. Similarly, in the Mehsana Municipal Corporation, the BJP won 47 out of 52 seats, while the remaining five seats went to the Congress.
Criminals fielded by the AAP and the Congress won 2 seats in Jamnagar
Meanwhile, the poll results on two seats of Ward Number 12 of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation turned out rather alarming, as two candidates with criminal antecedents, fielded by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress Party, won the seats. The candidates named Aslam Khilji (AAP) and Altaf Khafi (Congress) are accused under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GUJCTOC) Act, 2015. Out of the 64 municipal seats in Jamnagar, the BJP won 60 seats, while the Congress and the AAP won 2 seats each.
Both Aslam Khilji and Altaf Khafi are currently lodged in jail and contested the elections from there only. Before the elections, the local administration took stringent action against Congress candidate Altaf Khafi and his gang. The authorities demolished encroachments by Altaf and his gang on around 12,000 square feet on government land in the Titodi Wadi and Bangla Wadi areas of Jamnagar. A lavish farmhouse illegally constructed by Khafi and his associates was also demolished by the authorities. However, the victory of the two candidates with criminal backgrounds is a disturbing development.
