Local body polls underway in Gujarat as BJP wins 736 seats unopposed

POlling is underway for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 dominion panchayats, and 260 taluka panchayats crossways gujerat, the number one such work in the state after the electoral roll Special Intensive Revision, marred by allegations of pressure and inducements behind large-scale withdrawal of candidates of Opposition parties.The local polls are being held a year before the 2027 assembly elections in the state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power since 1995. In 2015, the Congress gained ground in the local polls. It carried the momentum to the 2017 assembly elections, reducing the BJP to 99 in the 182-member House. The Congress’s tally rose to 77, its highest tally in decades.In 2021, the trend reversed. The BJP retained all major municipal corporations and expanded its hold across local bodies. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the second biggest party in the Surat Municipal Corporation, replacing the Congress. In the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP won a record 156 seats and the AAP five seats. The Congress’s tally fell to its lowest in three decades to 17 seats.On Sunday, over 41.8 million voters are eligible to vote for 25,537 candidates across Gujarat. Nine newly formed municipal corporations in Nadiad, Surendranagar, Anand, Navsari, Vapi, Morbi, Gandhidham, Porbandar, and Mehsana are going to the polls for the first time.The polling began at 7am and will continue until 6pm, with slow voting in urban centres. In Surat, around 5% of votes were polled in the first hour, and 4% in the first two hours in Ahmedabad.The State Election Commission said the average voter turnout for municipal corporations was 15.1% until 11:30am, municipalities 22.97%, taluka panchayats 22.12%, and district panchayats 21.03%Electronic Voting Machine malfunctions were reported at multiple locations across the state in the opening hours, delaying voting.The ruling BJP won 736 seats uncontested, compared to 220 in 2021 and 37 in 2015. It rejected allegations of the Opposition parties blaming pressure and inducement for the withdrawals of their candidates.On April 15, over 400 Congress and AAP candidates withdrew nominations within hours across Vadodara, Surat, Mehsana, and Banaskantha.Former police officer M L Ninama, ex-radio jockey Abha Desai, and former AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani are among other prominent candidates in the fray. In Rajkot, Congress has fielded cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s sister, Nainaba. Jadeja’s wife, Rivaba Jadeja, is a minister in the state government.The elections are the first since the implementation of 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC), 50% for women, and rotation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe seats. Seven district panchayat president posts have been reserved for OBC candidates for the first time.The AAP has fielded around 5,000 seats, the highest so far. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is also in the fray, with its chief Asaduddin Owaisi campaigning in Ahmedabad and Bhuj.Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited his home state of Gujarat ahead of the polls on March 31. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a tribal programme in Vadodara on March 23. AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann held meetings from March 24 and 27.The votes will be counted on April 28, with re polling scheduled for April 27 if required.