Congress wins Gujarat municipal elections

The BJP lost in a dramatic manner in the maiden elections to Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) in the results announced on Thursday, despite enjoying a higher vote share than the winner, Congress.

According to State Election Commission, a total of 2,13,007 valid votes were registered in the GMC polls. The 33 candidates fielded by BJP from the 11 wards won 95,696 votes in the GMC elections, accounting for 44.93% of the total votes polled. The Congress, on the other hand, won 94,153 votes, earning a vote share of 44.20%.
However, in the end, the Congress won the polls winning 18 seats, while the BJP had to be content with 15 seats.

A closer look at the figures reveals that the BJP did very well in the wards that it swept, while the Congress was more consistent. In ward 1, where BJP won all three seats, it polled 4,419 votes more than the Congress candidates did. Similarly, it also polled 3,607 and 3,165 votes more than the Congress in wards 10 and 11 respectively.

On the other hand, the Congress was more consistent in all its wards. The grand old party bagged 1,936 votes more than the BJP in ward 2. Similarly, it won 1,558 more votes than BJP in ward 3, and 2,345 more votes than the saffron party in ward no 4.

"The BJP candidates did very well in some of the wards and won, but the party lagged in the other wards. The Congress, however, was more consistent, which is why it won more seats than BJP, despite getting less votes," said a BJP leader.

The NCP, MJP and BSP, which had fielded candidates in several wards, had vote shares of 1.26%, 0.76% and 2.51% respectively. Independent candidates won 5.60% of the total votes.