BJP landslide win in Gujarat rural polls |
In the district panchayat elections of the Indian state of Gujarat, Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged victorious on 2nd March. The BJP captured all 31 district panchayats, the majority of the 81 municipalities and over 200 of the 231 taluka or block panchayats that had gone to polls on 28th February. With this resounding victory, which came a week after the party had swept all six municipal corporations, BJP turned the tables on the Congress Party, which had made massive electoral gains in 2015 on the back of a violent Patidar reservation stir led by Hardik Patel and the Dalit stir championed by Jignesh Mevani. In 2015, BJP had been decimated in 24 out of the 31 district panchayats, besides losing 138 out of the 228 taluka panchayats. The party had, however, kept its semi-urban base intact by winning 45 out of 57 municipalities. The Congress Party was pushed further towards oblivion in Gujarat after failing to win a single district panchayat and taking a battering in the municipalities. In effect, the grand old party`s grassroots support was significantly uprooted by the BJP. AAP, which had stunned all in the municipality polls by winning 27 seats in the Patidar strongholds of Surat, made a modest entry into the rural bodies by winning 42 out of the 2,097 seats it contested.
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