Gandhinagar: BJP retained control of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), winning 38 of the 44 seats in the state capital’s civic body election, but fell short of its 2021 tally of 41 seats. Congress improved its performance by winning five seats, while an independent candidate secured one seat. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to open its account.Both BJP and Congress gained vote shares at the cost of AAP in the election. BJP garnered 56.46% of the vote share (3,08,672 votes), compared to a vote share of 46.49% in 2021. Congress secured a vote share of 36.93% (2,01,913 votes) compared to a vote share of 28.02% in 2021. The vote share of AAP, which was 21.77% in 2021, plummeted a massive 17.40% to 4.37% (23,894 votes). Independents had a vote share of 1.75% (9573 votes) while Bahujan Samaj party secured a vote share of 0.16% (875 votes).BJP also retained the Thara and Okha municipalities. In Thara, in Banaskantha district, the party won 19 of the 24 seats, with Congress securing five. In Okha, in Devbhumi Dwarka district, BJP bagged 29 of the 32 seats, while Congress won three.Chief minister Bhupendra Patel, deputy chief minister Harsh Sanghavi and state BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma led celebrations at the party headquarters on Tuesday afternoon. Party workers exchanged sweets as firecrackers were burst and drums beaten to mark the victory.“Heartiest congratulations to all victorious candidates and dedicated party workers on their victory in the local self-government elections including the GMC and Okha and Thara municipalities,” Patel posted on X.Sanghavi said, “The mandate of public support received by BJP in the elections held for various places including Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation demonstrates the trust of the people in the Bharatiya Janata Party.”Congress made most of its gains in ward 6, where all four candidates on its panel won, and ward 7, where it secured one seat. BJP swept all four seats in eight of the total 11 wards and won three of the four seats in each of wards 2 and 7. An independent candidate Dipika Vaghela won from Ward No-2.Despite retaining the civic body comfortably, BJP’s reduced tally has drawn attention to discontent over local leadership.The GMC carries a prestige tag as the civic body in the state capital catering to babus, ministers and govt employees and has historically seen a tougher fight between BJP and Congress. In the first election after the civic body was formed, in 2011, Congress won 18 seats against BJP’s 15. In 2016, the two parties were tied at 16 seats each. BJP subsequently registered landslide victories in 2021 and 2026, although its latest tally was three seats lower than its previous performance.
