BJP drubs Congress, AAP in Gandhinagar municipal polls

The BJP on Tuesday recorded its biggest victory in state capital Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) polls by winning 41 out of 44 seats. This is the first clear majority to the ruling party since the GMC came into existence in 2010. The Congress and AAP were drubbed with two and one seats respectively.

Besides, BJP also registered a record victory in Okha municipality polls in Devbhumi Dwarka, where it bagged 34 seats out of 36. BJP also won 24 seats in Thara municipality in Banaskantha while Congress ended up with only four seats. For the opposition Congress, Bhanvad municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka came as a relief where it won 16 seats out of 24 seats and restricted BJP to eight.

The data released from the state election commission revealed that BJP received 46.39 percent vote share and 27.99 percent votes went to Congress while AAP garnered 21.72 percent. The main reason behind BJP's sweeping victory is said to be the advent of AAP which diverted a large chunk (21.72) of votes that otherwise could have gone to Congress.

According to the data, in the 2016 election, BJP had 44.76 percent votes share while Congress had garnered 46.93 percent. In that election, both the parties had won 16 seats each. Apart from AAP's arrival, BJP also said to have benefited from delimitation.

While the BJP has continued its winning streaks in the local body polls while eyeing 2022 Assembly polls next winter, these results continue to weaken Congress further. But the biggest setback has come to Delhi chief minister Arvind kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, which could win only one seat in the state capital's civic body. "Although we have lost the polls, it has been proven again that in future real fights will be between BJP and AAP. Our vote share tells the story of how we have beaten the Congress to take second spot," said Gopal Italia, AAP's Gujarat president in a press conference after the result.

Taking a dig at AAP's dismal performance, Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil said in a news briefing that this party only knows how to make noise. "The voters have proved yet again that there is no place for the third political party in the state," he said. For the ruling party, the results hold importance for the fact that it came barely three weeks after the party changed the entire council of ministers including the chief minister in an unprecedented change in guard.

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