Gujarat civic body election
The sweeping electoral victory by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across Gujarat’s municipal corporations has resulted in a striking democratic gap, with 10 of 15 municipal corporations failing to meet the mandatory 10% seat threshold required to appoint a leader of opposition (LoP).Two, Morbi and Porbandar — have no opposition presence at all, as the BJP secured every single seat.In eight others — Mehsana, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Nadiad, Vadodara, Navsari and Surat — the BJP’s dominance crossed the 90% mark, effectively disqualifying opposition parties from claiming the LoP post under existing rules.Surat witnessed a dramatic collapse of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which dropped from 27 seats in the 2021 civic polls to just four seats this time. All four winners came from Ward 17 (Puna East), including city unit president Dharmesh Bhanderi.Prominent AAP leaders, including state general secretary Manoj Sorathiya and former LoP Payal Sakariya, lost their contests.The Congress, which had no representation in 2021, managed to secure just one seat.Interestingly, AAP made initial inroads in Jamnagar, winning two seatsIn Rajkot, the Congress marginally improved its tally from four to seven seats, though still far from the LoP requirement.Vadodara saw the party lose one seat, while in Jamnagar it dropped sharply from 11 seats to just two.Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation mirrored the 2021 results, with the BJP retaining 44 seats and the Congress holding eight.Vapi Municipal Corporation presents the only relatively competitive picture. Of its 52 seats, the BJP won 37, the Congress secured 11, and the Adivasi Sena Party bagged four seats.Vapi, Gandhidham, Bhavnagar and Karamsad-Anand are the four municipal corporations where the seat requirement for LoPs have been met.
