Decoding BJP’s Success In The Gujarat Local Body Elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained the trend of the Municipal Corporation results of six cities declared last week (23 February) in the Municipality, District Panchayat and Taluka Panchayat results declared yesterday (2 March) and has once again proved why Gujarat is its stronghold.

BJP couldn’t perform as expected in the local body elections of 2015 because of the Patidar agitation. The party won in just eight of the 31 District Panchayats.

Of the 230 Taluka Panchayats, BJP could bag only 77, whereas the Congress won 151.

However, in comparison to the District Panchayats and Taluka Panchayats, BJP had performed better in the Municipality elections, winning 41 of the 55, while the Congress managed to win only 12.

However, contrary to the 2015 elections, BJP has performed tremendously well and made a strong comeback. According to the results so far, BJP has made history by winning all 31 District Panchayats, while the Congress remains empty handed.

Of the 81 Municipalities, BJP recorded a win in 77, while Congress has had to be content with just four. If we talk about Taluka Panchayats, of the 229 of the 231 seats whose results were declared, BJP’s tally reached 196, while for the Congress, the number remains 33.

Under the leadership of the newly appointed state BJP president, CR Patil, the party has achieved new milestones in these election results. For example, Gandhinagar District Panchayat, which was under Congress rule since Independence, has gone to the BJP for the first time.

In the 2015 elections, the party’s performance had been affected by three key issues. First, the Patidar agitation, second, GST and third, the sulk against BJP in tribal areas.

Due to these reasons, Congress performed better than BJP in the rural areas.

However, if we take a look at the current elections results, it shows that BJP has improved a lot in Saurashtra, which was once a citadel for the Patidar agitation. By winning all the 44 seats of Gondal Municipality in Saurashtra, BJP has made history.

Similarly in Morbi, where GST was a dominating factor in the last elections, BJP won on all the 52 seats. Also, the lotus has bloomed in the tribal areas of south Gujarat like Valsad, Vyara and Dang.

These election results clearly show that the issues that mattered in 2015, have been forgotten by the people of Gujarat, who have now voted for the BJP and the development undertaken by the party while in power.

One of the major reasons for BJP’s victory is CR Patil, who made big changes in the organisation and also formed a few rules for the candidates. After taking the reins of the organisation, he ensured BJP won all the eight seats in the Gujarat Assembly by-polls and made the party stronger in the state Assembly.

The credit for BJP’s victory in all the six Municipal Corporations also goes to Patil. To sum up, these election results have clarified that the people of Gujarat vote for development and nationalism, which means they vote for the BJP.

Most likely, this is the reason why, despite being an incumbent in the state for more than two decades, BJP doesn’t face anti-incumbency. Gujarat and the people of Gujarat still trust the BJP.