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The Bharatiya Janata Party was poised towards a landslide win in Gujarat Municipal and local body elections, while Opposition was staring at a route losing several seats it held a strong presence. The poll debacle prompted resignations from Congress’ state unit president Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani. Meanwhile, top BJP leadership, including party president JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the party cadre for the performance.

As per official data, the ruling BJP won all the 31 district panchayats, 70 out of 81 municipalities, and was far ahead of its main rival Congress in the 231 taluka panchayats.

The saffron party has won 6,110 out of the total 8,474 seats for which results have been declared so far. The Congress could bag only 1,768 seats and has won
only three municipalities but failed to open an account in any district panchayats. The Grand Old Party could win only a few taluka panchayat bodies.

The success follows the BJP’s clean sweep in elections for six municipal corporations in the first phase last month.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which made its debut in the state’s local body polls, said in a tweet that party candidates emerged victorious in 31 taluka, two district and nine municipal seats. Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen won seven out of the eight seats it contested in Godhra municipal elections and nine out of the 12 seats it contested in Modasa, becoming the primary Opposition party in both the municipalities.

This was a major blow to Congress, which was considered the main Opposition party in the state.

Gujarat Congress chief, opposition leader quit

In view of the Congress’ debacle in the elections to local bodies in Gujarat, state unit president Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani resigned from their posts on Tuesday.

Chavda said people had raised doubts about EVMs and all these things should be probed. A party spokesperson said it was now up to the top brass of Congress to decide the future course of action.

“Taking the responsibility of the election results as state Congress chief, I have submitted my resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi,” Chavda told reporters, adding that he would work as a common party worker from now on.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi confirmed that Dhanani has also sent his resignation to the party leadership in Delhi.

“The party leadership has received both the resignations. Now it is up to the party brass to decide on the replacement of these leaders,” Doshi said. He said the Central leadership of the Congress has asked Chavda and Dhanani to continue on their posts till the time their replacements are announced.

BJP top brass celebrate win

As BJP headed for a massive victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the results showed that Gujarat remains firmly with the party’s agenda of development and good governance.

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

Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that “people in rural parts of Gujarat and farmers have made the BJP victorious and put a seal of trust on the welfare policies of the government in local body polls in Gujarat.”

“I bow to the masses,” Shah said, congratulating Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and state BJP chief CR Paatil as well as party workers for “the grand victory”.

આ વિજય ગરીબ, ખેડુતો અને ગામડાના વિકાસ અને કલ્યાણ માટે સમર્પિત વડાપ્રધાન શ્રી @narendramodi જીના નેતૃત્વમાં કાર્યરત ભાજપા સરકારોમાં જનતાના અતૂટ વિશ્વાસની જીત છે.

મોદીજીના નેતૃત્વ હેઠળની ભાજપા સરકારો દેશના ગરીબ, ખેડુતો અને વંચિત સમાજના કલ્યાણ અને વિકાસ માટે સતત કટિબદ્ધ છે.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 2, 2021

BJP national president Nadda also thanked the voters and party workers for the win.

मैं स्थानीय निकाय चुनावों में विकास और विश्वास की प्रतीक ‘भाजपा’ में पुनः विश्वास प्रकट करने के लिए गुजरात की जनता को हृदय से धन्यवाद देता हूं। इस अभूतपूर्व जीत के लिए प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @CRPaatil, मुख्यमंत्री श्री @vijayrupanibjp व सभी ऊर्जावान कार्यकर्ताओं को मेरी बधाई।

— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) March 2, 2021

Counting of votes was underway since 9 am in 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats, and 231 taluka panchayats where elections were held on Sunday. More than 58,000 poll and security personnel are involved in the counting being conducted at 542 centres in Gujarat, the SEC said.

There are a total of 8,474 seats across the three local bodies. Candidates in 237 seats remain unopposed, the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

Bye-elections were also held for two seats in taluka panchayats and 24 seats in municipalities.

The first phase elections held last month had also thrown up similar results. The BJP had swept all municipalities winning 483 out of 576 seats, while Congress lost considerable ground to new entrants AAP and AIMIM as it won only 55 seats and failed even to open its account in Surat, a district where AAP made inroads.

With inputs from PTI