The Congress party lost its last bastion in urban Gujarat — Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) on Tuesday as the BJP won 41 out of 60 seats. The thumping victory of the saffron party is seen as the last nail in the coffin of the grand old party, at least in urban Gujarat, where more than 40 per cent people are staying in urban areas.
Of the eight Municipal Corporations — Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Gandhinagar and Junagadh —except Junagadh, all other corporations were ruled by the BJP. With this thumping victory, saffron domination has reached to 100 per cent in urban Gujarat.Knowing the importance of the victory, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the State BJP unit for their spectacular performance and hard work put in by the party workers.
The election of JMC was also seen as a litmus test for the new Chief Minister Anandiben, who passed it with ‘distinction’, said a senior BJP leader. The elated Gujarat Chief Minister said that BJP is committed to live up to the trust put on by the people of Junagadh and Gujarat.After losing all 26 seats in Gujarat in the lok Sabha elections, the result came as a major shock for the Congress party as the oldest party in the country could manage to win only 16 seats. Two seats went to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one seat was secured by an Independent candidate.
“The election of JMC was held on Sunday and the counting occurred on Tuesday. The civic body comprises 60 seats of 20 wards. Polling was, however, held in 59 seats as the Congress won one seat uncontested. There was nearly 55 per cent voters’ turnout,” said Junagadh collector and election officer, Alok Pandey, adding that as many as 156 candidates were in the fray.
Meanwhile, Gujarat BJP spokesman IK Jadeja said that apart from victory in JMC, the saffron party has also captured nine out of ten seats in municipality by-elections, while the Congress could win only seat.It is worth mentioning that, apart from 115 seats in Gujarat Assembly out of 182, the saffron party is ruling on over 125 municipalities out of 159 in the State. Besides, of the 26 District Panchayats, BJP has captured 25 and left only one for the Congress party.
In the last election held in the year 2009, the Congress party won 28 out of 51 seats, while BJP could secure only 21. The number of seats later went upto 60 after three more wards were added following demarcation of the city limits.