BJP wins uncontested on 215 seats and 4 municipalities in local body polls

As per the SEC schedule, the last date for withdrawal of nominations was February 4. According to a BJP party release, following the uncontested victory of its candidates on majority seats of four municipalities — Halol, Bhachau Jafrabad, and Bantva, it will be forming the board in those local bodies.

In all, as per the party’s statement, BJP won 196 seats of the 68 municipalities, going to polls.

The BJP candidates have also won uncontested on 10 other seats where the elections have been notified, said the statement. In Halol, BJP has won 19 seats out of the total 36 seats, in Bhachau 22 out of the 28, in Jafrabad 16 out of the 28 and in Bantva it has won 15 out of the total 24 seats.

BJP MLA from Halol, Jaydhratsinh Parmar “thanked” the voters for “placing their trust” in the BJP. “If anyone has to be given credit for this, it is the voters who trust in PM Narendra Modi and CM Bhupendra Patel,” he said.

Meanwhile, the party also won the bypolls to the Shivrajpur seat of the Panchmahal District Panchayat uncontested.

The party has also won the Mangaliya seat of Sehra Taluka Panchayat in Panchmahal, uncontested. A total of four candidates had filled nominations, including one candidate each from the Congress and the AAP. BJP’s Devendra Pagi was declared uncontested winner when the proposers of the three other candidates, including those from the Congress and the AAP, withdrew their support to the candidates during the scrutiny of the forms on Monday.

In Vadodara Taluka Panchayat seat of Dashrath 1, BJP’s Sunil Gopal Prajapati was declared uncontested winner as Congress candidate Vashram Ranchchod Rabari withdrew his nomination. Election Officer Kalpesh Joshi said that bypolls were being held in three Vadodara District Panchayat seats of Koyali 1, Dashrath 1 and Nandesari. The polls will be conducted in Koyali 1 and Nandesari as per the schedule, on February 16. In Valsad municipality, sources in the election department of Valsad district said that the election will not be held on four seats in Ward 8, one seat in Ward 9 and two seats in Ward 10. The BJP candidates on these seats have been declared uncontested winners by district election officials on Tuesday as the Congress and the AAP had not fielded their candidates on some of these seats.

On Tuesday, two Congress candidates — Mamta Dholekar from Ward 10 and Manav Parmar from Ward. 8 — and AAP candidate Chirag Kiran Bulsara from Ward 6 withdrew their nominations.

Similarly, in Dharampur Municipality of Valsad district, the election will take place on 25 out of 28 seats in seven wards. Three BJP candidates from Ward 2 were declared uncontested winners on Tuesday by election department officials.

Valsad BJP general secretary Shailesh Desai said, “In Valsad Municipality, the BJP is the only party contesting in an organised way while Congress has become too weak, and there is no place for AAP. We will win the election again with a majority and continue our ruling.”

Valsad Congress president Girish Desai could not be reached for a comment.

BJP bags 9 JMC seats

The BJP also claimed to have won nine seats uncontested in the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC). JMC is the only municipal corporation in the state which is going to polls on February 16.

In the general election on 60 seats of 15 wards of Junagadh Municipal Corporation, the BJP candidates won on 9 seats, where there was no Congress and any other candidate. Sources in the Election Commission said that on the 9 seats, Congress had opted out of the race, leaving only BJP candidates as uncontested winners.

The returning officers of Wards 3 and 14 confirmed that Congress candidates on eight seats and one from another ward, had withdrawn their nominations on Monday and Tuesday, leaving only BJP candidates in the fray.

Rebellion, suspension in Vadodara BJP

The Karjan Municipality in Vadodara witnessed rebellion within the Vadodara district BJP unit, with the party, on Tuesday, suspending 26 rebel leaders for “anti-party” activities after 16 BJP-rebels filed their nominations from the AAP, miffed at being denied tickets. Despite attempts from the Vadodara district BJP to control the damage, aspiring leaders, who were denied tickets switched over to AAP and had filed their nominations last week. On Tuesday, as the 16 rebel-BJP leaders did not withdraw their nominations against the candidate with the party’s mandate, the BJP suspended the leaders, along with 10 others as part of the disciplinary action.

Vadodara district BJP President Satish Patel, who is also former MLA from Karjan, told The Indian Express, “We tried contacting each one of them to explain that the party has decided to field new faces and all those people, who have been corporators for three terms, are not being given tickets as per the party policy”.

“They continued to demand tickets and it is not possible to go against the party’s mandate… We waited for them to make a decision until 3pm on Tuesday, which was the deadline for withdrawal of nominations. Since 16 of them have decided to go ahead with their nominations against the party candidate, we have suspended them,” Satish Patel said.

Patel added that 10 others, who had indulged in “anti-party” activity and supported the rebel candidates have also been suspended for six years. He said that the rebellion “will not affect” the party’s chances in Karjan Municipality in the upcoming polls.