LS vote referendum on reservation: Telangana CM
The Telangana chief minister also accused the BJP of trying to stop OBC reservation put forward by the Mandal Commission.
Congress performed well in the Gujarat municipal elections even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win most of the 75 municipalities where elections were held on 17 February.
According to reports, the BJP won 47 of the municipalities securing over 1100 seats. The number of municipalities is, however, much lower than their performance in 2013 when the party had secured 59 municipalities.
On the contrary, Congress gave a tough fight by winning 16 municipalities improving both their tally and influence. In 2013, the Congress had won 11 municipalities but five of its members later defected to the BJP.
Advertisement
According to reports, no party got a majority in six seats while four seats went to Independents and two were secured by others.
The election was a major test for Congress and the BJP especially since it comes on the heels of the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state where, too, the Congress delivered an improved performance.
The BJP won 99 of Gujarat’s 182 assembly seats, which is just seven more than the majority mark of 92. The Congress won 77, up from 60 in the last elections.
Both the Assembly and the civic-body polls indicate to a decline in the strength of the BJP, which has been ruling the state uninterrupted since 1998.
Elections were also held for two district panchayats, 17 taluka (tehsil) panchayats and 1,423 gram panchayats, simultaneously. The villagers in 295 gram panchayats chose their ‘sarpanch’ unanimously.
This was for the first time in a decade that parties contested the local body polls on their party symbols.
The BJP won 27 of the 28 seats in Vadnagar municipality, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP was able to bag 20 of 24 seats in Sanand, while the Congress saw its seats reducing from eight last time to four.
Congress lost all the three municipalities in Mehsana district this time, also losing Kheralu and Vijapur to BJP, in the Patidar hub of north Gujarat. The party lost all the three municipality polls in Porbandar.
(With inputs from agencies.)
Advertisement
