Ahmedabad : Counting of votes is underway for the local body elections in Gujarat. Polling was held on Sunday for elections to 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats in the state. Counting of votes began at 9 am on Tuesday, State Election Commission (SEC) officials said.
Among the urban bodies, the 15 municipal corporations witnessed a turnout of 49%. According to the State Election Commission, a total of 732 candidates were elected unopposed ahead of the polls. This includes 43 candidates in municipal corporations. At 2 pm, trends show the BJP leading with 674 seats, the INC with 60 seats, and other parties with 5 seats out of 1,044 seats across 15 municipal corporations.
By noon, the BJP is leading with 580 seats, while the INC has 33 seats and other parties have 5 seats. Ward 1 in Vadodara, considered a Congress stronghold, saw a major upset. The BJP won two seats and an independent candidate secured one, leaving Congress with just one seat. After five years, Congress has finally opened its account in Surat. Arshad Zariwala won the Ward No. 12 seat.
AAP and Congress have suffered a major setback in Vapi, as an independent panel has secured victory. The panel broke in Bapunagar ward of Ahmedabad after two Congress candidates won. An uproar broke out in Vadodara after a delay in vote counting following the Municipal Corporation elections. In Ward No 1, counting through EVMs started late, leading candidates and their agents to protest.
In Vadodara after a delay in vote counting following the Municipal Corporation elections. In Ward No 1, counting through EVMs started late, leading candidates and their agents to protest. Counting for Wards 1, 2, and 3 was conducted in Room No 25. The counting of 78 ballot papers took nearly an hour, which further added to the unrest among candidates and agents.
As many as 71 lakh urban voters and 1.61 crore rural voters cast their votes—around 2.33 crore voters in total. The overall turnout was 62.38 percent. Over 10,000 seats were to go to elections; however, candidates on around 750 seats were declared victorious unopposed. The total seats for which elections were necessitated were: Municipal Corporations – 1,044; Municipalities – 2,624; District Panchayats – 1,090; and Taluka Panchayats – 5,234.