BJP poised to sweep civic elections in six Gujarat cities; AAP makes inroads by winning eight seats in Surat

The BJP has so far won 300 out of the total 576 seats across six municipal corporations in Gujarat, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday afternoon as counting of votes is underway.

Congress won only 36 seats, the SEC said about 4 pm.

The Congress has not won a single seat in Surat where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a new entrant, made impressive inroads by winning eight seats.

The Bahujan Samaj Party has won three seats in Jamnagar.

A total of 192 seats in Ahmedabad, 72 in Rajkot, 64 in Jamnagar, 52 in Bhavnagar, 76 in Vadodara and 120 in Surat were up for grabs in the elections held on February 21.

The BJP has won 62 seats in Ahmedabad corporation, 51 in Rajkot, 50 in Jamnagar, 31 in Bhavnagar, 61 in Vadodara and 45 in Surat.

The Congress has won 10 seats in Ahmedabad, four in Rajkot, 11 in Jamnagar, five in Bhavnagar, seven in Vadodara and zero seats in Surat.

The AAP, which had fielded 470 candidates across six corporations, won eight seats in Surat. Its workers celebrated by cutting cakes after the party won two panels (each having four candidates) in the city.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel expressed gratitude to the voters and BJP workers for the results.

"The grand victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections of six municipal corporations is the victory of the people of Gujarat.

"This is a grand victory of the politics of development started by Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi," tweeted Rupani in Gujarati.

The people of Gujarat have provided "a subject" to political analysts who can study how the concept of anti-incumbency does not apply in the state, he said.

"Many thanks and congratulations to all the winning candidates, BJP office-bearers, workers and the voters of Gujarat for the glorious victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections," tweeted Nitin Patel.