BJP gets early lead in Gujarat local body polls

 Gandhinagar: The ruling BJP made early gains in the Gujarat civic elections. As the counting began in 75 municipalities, two Zilla panchayats and 17 taluq panchayats, the BJP established early gains in 42 of them. The Congress is leading in 26. However, the BJP is expected to improve its tally further.

The elections were held in the backdrop of the recent Assembly elections in December, where the BJP, though a winner, had put up its worst performance in 20 years. The Congress improved its performance in the Assembly elections.  The BJP has won the fifth straight term, albeit with a reduced majority. The BJP had 99 seats in the Assembly, while the Congress won 77, its best performance in 20 years. Thus, the local body elections were seen as the first test of the Rupani Government’s popularity. 

The BJP won a fifth straight term in power in Gujarat, but not before a scare as the Congress considerably reduced the margin of victory.

In the Saturday poll,  Dahod recorded the highest turnout of 76.67 percent while Rajkot had the lowest turnout at 50.17 percent. In the last local body polls, the BJP had won 107 seats out of total 123 seats in 2016.