Gujarat Local Polls 2021 Live Updates: BJP To Win Again

New Delhi: The ruling BJP headed for a big win once again in Gujarat local polls, leading in 2,085 of 8,474 seats across various municipalities that voted on Sunday in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state and establishing a wide gap with closest rival Congress. Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took up from where it left last week, scoring again on its debut outing with 16 seats.

“Results of the Nagar Palika, Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat polls across Gujarat give a crystal clear message – Gujarat is firmly with the BJP’s agenda of development and good governance. I bow to the people of Gujarat for the unwavering faith and affection towards BJP,” PM Modi tweeted.

Results of the Nagar Palika, Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat polls across Gujarat give a crystal clear message- Gujarat is firmly with the BJP’s agenda of development and good governance. I bow to the people of Gujarat for the unwavering faith and affection towards BJP.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 2, 2021

Continuing its good run in civic polls seen to be a test before elections next year, the BJP surged ahead in 75 of 81 municipalities, with the Congress’s seats dropping to four and AAP ahead in two.

The BJP is leading in all 31 district panchayats and it is ahead in 196 of 231 taluka panchayats, with the Congress ahead in 33.

Of a total of 8,474 seats involved, elections were held on 8,235 seats while in the rest, candidates were elected unopposed.

Another round of disappointing results has badly hit the Gujarat Congress, which had in 2017 delivered a strong performance in state elections. Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda and the leader of Congress legislature party, Paresh Dhanani, resigned today long before all the results were declared.

Last week, the BJP swept polls across six key municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, winning 483 of 576 seats. AAP registered its presence in Surat by winning 27 seats at the cost of the Congress, which failed to win any in that town.

Arvind Kejriwal, reveling in AAP’s performance, indicated that he was prepping his party for the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections. He said the rivalry was now between the BJP and AAP, with the Congress nowhere in the reckoning.

On his victory trip to Surat on Thursday, Mr Kejriwal said AAP would seek votes from the people of the state in the next assembly polls based on the performance of the party’s 27 newly-elected corporators.

The Gujarat BJP sought to give the AAP chief a reality check. State BJP chief CR Patil jibed that Mr Kejriwal was holding a roadshow to celebrate the large number of AAP candidates who had lost their election deposits – forfeited when a candidate fails to get one-sixth of the total valid votes.

AAP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM also contested in the Gujarat local body polls, apart from traditional rivals BJP and Congress. The AIMIM fielded candidates in minority-dominated seats of Modasa and Bharuch municipalities. It also contested in the Godhra municipality.

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