New Delhi. Counting of Gujarat civic elections is going on. The election results of six municipal corporations – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Rajkot – will come by evening. Before the next assembly elections in the state, the results of the civic elections will tell which side the mood of the voters is. The main contest is between the ruling BJP and the Congress. However, all eyes are also on the performance of Aam Aadmi Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis A Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
AAP leads in 17 seats in Surat
According to the latest trends, the Aam Aadmi Party was leading in 17 seats. All the gains of AAP are coming out in Surat Municipal Corporation. Here the AAP has given a shock to the Congress and reached number two. Apart from this, no party is currently leading in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Rajkot.
AIMIM was ahead, now lagged behind
Asaduddin Owaisi’s party has contested local body elections for the first time. At one time the party was leading in 4 seats of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation but later lost its lead. AIMIM candidates have so far failed to make gains in the rest of the municipal corporations – Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Rajkot.
There are more than a quarter thousand candidates in the field
According to the Election Commission, a total of 2,276 candidates were in the fray for a total of 575 seats in the six municipal corporations. These include 577 from BJP, 566 from Congress, 470 from AAP, 91 from NCP, 353 from other parties and 228 independents. The BJP won all these corporations in the last several elections. This year, Ahmedabad recorded the lowest (38.73 percent) turnout. The highest number of votes (49.86 per cent) were held in Jamnagar. In Rajkot, 47.27 percent voters, Bhavnagar 43.66 percent, Surat 43.52 percent and Vadodara 43.47 percent voters.
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