Kejriwal and Owaisi’s Parties Wrest Slices of Oppn Space from Congress
The local body elections in Gujarat saw the Aam Aadmi Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen win a total of 59 seats in the second phase, emerging as an alternative to the Congress in the opposition space. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM won nine seats in the Modasa municipality in the Aravalli district, one in Bharuch, and seven in Godhra in Panchmahal. AAP won 31 seats in taluka panchayat, two in district panchayat and nine in municipal bodies.
The AIMIM has picked up wins in Muslim-dominated areas, including Godhra and Modasa. And the Aam Aadmi Party has won clear victories in seats dominated by Patidars as well as other disgruntled classes.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday emerged as the clear victor in the local body polls by securing a majority in all 31 district panchayats as well as in 196 out of 231 taluka panchayats and 74 out of 81 municipalities. In the second phase where polling was held for district and taluka panchayats as well as municipalities on February 28, the party again left the Congress far behind by winning 6,236 out of the 8,470 seats for which results were declared. The position on four seats is yet to be declared.
The Congress won 1,805 seats, while new-entrants AAP and AIMIM won 42 and 17 seats, respectively.
In Surat Municipality, the Congress has won zero seats while AAP has picked up 27 seats. In Ahmedabad, Asaduddin Owaisi’s party has won seven seats while Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party has picked up three seats.
The BJP’s success followed its victory in all six municipal corporations where polls were held in the first phase of local elections on February 21.
The results come as a shot in the arm for chief minister Vijay Rupani ahead of the 2022 assembly elections. Questions had been raised about his leadership when the BJP scraped through in the 2017 assembly polls.
