Gandhinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 236 seats in the elections for six municipal corporations in Gujarat, while Congress has maintained a lead in 49 seats, as per trends reported by NDTV.
In 2015 elections, the BJP had won 391 of these seats and 174 went into the Congress Congress. This election, the AIMIM and the AAP are also in play.
In Ahmedabad, the BJP is ahead in 80 seats while the Congress is leading in 15.
Polling for 576 seats in 144 wards across six civic bodies—Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, and Jamnagar—was held on Sunday (21 February).
The BJP is in power in all these civic bodies currently.
"Designated staff would begin the counting of votes from 9 am on Tuesday at various counting centres in these six cities. People can watch live updates on our website," said M V Joshi, secretary, State Election Commission (SEC).
The SEC has said an average 46.08 per cent turnout was registered during voting, which was held between 7 am and 6 pm on Sunday.
Ahmedabad recorded the lowest turnout of 42.51 per cent, while Jamnagar saw the highest turnout of 53.38 per cent, followed by 50.72 per cent in Rajkot, 49.46 per cent in Bhavnagar, 47.84 per cent in Vadodara, and 47.14 per cent in Surat.
A total of 2,276 candidates were in the fray in these six civic bodies. In addition, nine candidates contested the by-elections to two seats in Junagadh Municipal Corporation.
The party-wise candidates are as follows: 577 from the BJP, 566 from the Congress, 470 from the AAP, 91 from the NCP, 353 from other parties, and 228 independents, they said.
Elections to 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats, and 231 taluka panchayats are scheduled on 28 February. The results are scheduled to be declared on 2 March.
(With PTI inputs)
