 "Gujarat civic polls: BJP wins urban, Congress rural")
After the Patidar community agitation dented its electoral prospects in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw a face-saving victory in urban areas in the local body polls in the state. According to the results declared on Wednesday, the BJP won all six municipal corporations that went to polls – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar.
While the BJP managed to win 40 out of 56 municipalities that went to polls, it conceded defeat to the Congress in 31 district and 230 taluka panchayats. As of 7 pm on Wednesday, the Congress won 23 district panchayats out of a total of 31, while the BJP managed to win only six even as results were awaited for the rest.
Voting for the polls was held in two phases. While voting for six municipal corporations was held on November 22, the same for 230 taluka panchayats, 56 nagarpalikas (municipalities) and 31 district panchayats were held on November 29. Before going to polls, BJP was in charge in all six municipal corporations, 150 taluka panchayats, 42 municipalities and 30 district panchayats.
Having made the most of the dissent among rural voters against the ruling government, state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki stated on Wednesday that the results were a verdict against the incumbent government. “The government has literally ignored the farmers. We take all sections of society along with us. The Congress has won a majority in rural areas. This is a verdict against the state government.”
On the other hand, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said the ruling party accepted the people’s verdict even as she termed the results “below expectation”.
“The results are below expectation in district and taluka panchayats and we will analyse where we have made mistakes and try to resolve the same. With very short time for campaigning, the party successfully won all six municipal corporations of the state. We were not successful in rural areas, but we’ll continue our progress agenda across the state,” she added.
Patel also said she had advised party workers to go to rural areas where the BJP has lost and work more aggressively for the betterment of locals.
An ecstatic Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, who also hails from Gujarat, tweeted: “My sincere gratitude to the people of Gujarat. These results indicate the BJP govt is on its way out in 2017. Their anti-poor policies have taken a toll on people #GujaratResults.”
Patel went onto say, “The BJP govt has also paid a heavy price for its vindictive attitude and witch hunt towards agitators.” All India Congress Committee general secretary Gurudas Kamat said the BJP witnessed a “complete rout” in areas represented by the Prime Minister, BJP veteran L K Advani as also Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, BJP chief Amit Shah and state Home Minister and state Finance Minister.
