Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation election results: BJP wins 19 seats, Congress 1

NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP has bagged 19 seats even as the counting of votes for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections is currently underway at a city centre on Tuesday. 

The Congress party which has suffered a big loss in the ongoing counting of votes for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) election, has so far managed to win just 1 seat. As per the trends available for 124 seats around 12 noon, BJP was leading on 95, while the Congress was going strong in 24.

According to the Gujarati newspaper Sandesh, BJP has won 19 seats and wards 1, 5, 7, 9 and 10 in Gandhinagar. The Congress, meanwhile, has been able to win just one.

Sandesh said that AAP has been able to break into the traditional vote bank of Congress. It is second only to the BJP now.

Polling for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) was held on Sunday to choose from 162 candidates in the fray across 11 wards of the GMC. This time, the elections became three-pronged after the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Around 56.24 per cen voting was recorded in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation polls in Gujarat that was held on Sunday. The voter turnout remained equally subdued in Okha and Bhanvad, both in Devbhumi Dwarka district, at 55.07 and 62.27 per cent, respectively, while Thara in Banaskantha district recorded an impressive 73.55 per cent turnout.

The turnout in by-elections to three seats in two municipal corporations of Ahmedabad and Junagadh and seats in municipalities and district panchayats also remained low at 27.20, 47.99 and 57.08 per cent, respectively.

By-election to seats in taluka panchayats recorded an average turnout of 72.64 percent, the state election commission said. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress fought on all 44 seats, the AAP fielded candidates in 40 seats. 

Apart from GMC, elections were also held in Okha, Bhanvad and Thara municipalities. Together in these three municipalities, 205 candidates were in the fray, including 78 from BJP, 72 from Congress, 52 from AAP, among others.

Votes were also cast for the by-elections to seats vacated in some municipal corporations, municipalities, as well as district and taluka panchayats. In Ahmedabad, the BJP's Maulik Patel has won from Isanpur ward

This was the first major election after Bhupendra Patel took charge as the chief minister of Gujarat. The GMC poll is being seen as a litmus test for the BJP's abrupt and surprising decision to change the entire government, as it had registered a thumping win in the local bodies polls held in February.