A day after Modi's visit, Gujarat election commission announces dates for local bodies polls

Ahmedabad: A day after prime minister Narendra Modi's one-day state visit, the state election commission on Wednesday announced the schedule for the local body elections which will be officially commencing from April 6 and to be completed by April 30.

Local self-government elections will be held for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats, and 260 taluka panchayats. The combined number of seats to go for polling is 9,992 and the number of voters are 4.19 crore.

Gujarat State Election Commissioner S. Muraleekrishna announced the dates and schedule for the crucial election, which is set to take place a year ahead of the Assembly elections.

Apart from ruling BJP and main opposition Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also eyeing to perform well in the elections.

The BJP has launched a "sensing drive" to understand the mood and decide the candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his one-day visit on Tuesday urged people to keep the “superfast express of development moving from panchayat to Parliament."

On the other hand, Congress has taken out several public outreach campaigns to woo voters across the state over the past several months. Once a dominant force in the local bodies, which form the grassroots of politics, the party has been outmaneuvered by the BJP over the past decade.

On the other hand, AAP led by its national president Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and other central and local leaders have been frequently campaigning in the state for the past several months.