Termed as semi-finals ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections slated in the last lag of 2017, first phase of a two-tiered polls to over 300 local self Government bodies will be held on Sunday with six out of the eight municipal corporations go to polls.
The two phased election of 323 local self Government bodies is considered extremely important for the ruling BJP as well as opposition Congress party as it would cover almost entire State and a large chunk of the voting population of the State. The elections of six municipal corporations including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamngar and Bhavnagar as well as 56 municipalities, 31 district panchayat and 230 taluka (tehsil) panchayat are also seen as litmus test for the Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. The saffron party is contesting first major election after 13 long years without Narendra Modi and first under the leadership of the state’s first woman Chief Minister. Second phase of the elections will be held on November 29 which would cover the rural segment of the state. Counting for both phases of the elections will be declared on December 2.
Ongoing pro-quota agitation of Patidar (Patel) community for reservation to them under OBC category in government jobs and education will be one of the important factors for the polls. It would be interesting to see on which side, the powerful Patel community votes as population of Patidar is over 14 per cent of the total 63 million population of Gujarat.
Despite the agitating bodies of Patels – Sardar Patel Group (SPG) and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) have appealed to their community members to vote against ruling BJP, the state BJP leaders are confident to retain Patidar votes in the saffron party’s favor. On the other hand Congress camp is hoping anti-BJP sentiment of Patels would help the grand old party to regain lost glory in the state politics. It is worth mentioning that out of 26 constituencies Congress couldn’t get single seat in Gujarat in the 2014 lok Sabha elections.
The PAAS convener and the face of the pro-quota agitation 22-year-old Hardik Patel is in the jail. Over this issue, a section of Patidar community is angry on the ruling BJP. Despite this, BJP is banking on Patel representation of the community on the key posts.