News Analysis India

Tag: Gujarat politics

  • Gujarat local body polls: BJP victorious Gandhinagar, Congress wins Bhanvad municipality

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The ruling BJP on Tuesday retained the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) and won in two other civic bodies in Gujarat, while the Congress took away Bhanvad municipality in Devbhumi-Dwarka district from the saffron party.

    In the GMC, the BJP established its lead since the beginning of counting at 9 am, and eventually trumped its rivals Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by a huge margin.

    The GMC poll was being seen as a litmus test for the BJP in the backdrop of its sudden and surprising decision to change the state’s chief minister and the entire cabinet recently, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year.

    The party had registered a thumping win in the local bodies polls held in February this year.

    As per the final tally released by the State Election Commission (SEC), out of total 44 seats in the GMC, the BJP won 41 seats, the Congress-two and the AAP bagged one seat.

    Counting of votes was also held for three other municipalities – Okha and Bhanvad in Devbhumi-Dwarka district, and Thara municipality of Banaskantha district.

    As per the final figures released by the SEC after counting of votes, the BJP won 20 out of 24 seats in Thara, while the Congress got only four seats.

    The BJP retained Okha municipality by winning 34 out of 36 seats, while two seats went to the Congress.

    However, in a setback to the BJP, the Congress emerged victorious in Bhanvad by winning 16 out of 24 seats.

    The BJP, which managed to win only eight seats this time, was in power in Bhanvad since 1995. Voting for elections to the GMC and the three other municipalities took place on Sunday.

    Besides, bypolls to elect representatives on 104 vacant seats of various other local bodies were also held the same day.

    Of the total 2.8 lakh registered voters in Gandhinagar, 56.24 per cent had exercised their franchise.

    The voter turnout in Okha and Bhanvad was 55.07 and 62.27 per cent, respectively, while Thara had recorded an impressive 73.55 per cent turnout.

    In Gandhinagar, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had put in a concerted effort apart from traditional rivals BJP and Congress. A total of 161 candidates contested the GMC poll, with the BJP and Congress fighting in all 44 seats and the AAP in 40 seats.

    In the 2016 GMC elections, both the Congress and BJP won 16 seats each out of the total 32 seats existing at that time.

    Both the parties then had equal chances of forming the board through a draw of lots.

    However, at the last moment, Congress corporator Pravin Patel switched sides and helped the BJP come to power in the civic body.

    The latest election was originally supposed to be held in April this year, but it was postponed in view of the high number of COVID-19 cases emerging every day at that time.

  • Gujarat: Team Rupani blanked out in Bhupendra Patel ministry

    Express News Service

    Gujarat perhaps got its most inexperienced ministry ever on Thursday with as many as 21 of the 24 who took oath of office and secrecy as ministers being first-timers. That the ministry is being led by another first-timer lawmaker Bhupendra Patel indicates that the real power centre has shifted to Delhi.

    Not one representative of the outgoing Rupani government figured in the new ministry, obliquely echoing the Opposition’s charges of incompetence. Applying the no-repeat yardstick to form the new government is fraught with challenges of rebellion, but the BJP appears confident of containing it, smug as it is in the understanding that they owe their position as lawmakers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vote-catching ability. 

    The first stirrings of resentment came from Mansukh Vasava, BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Baruch. “Baruch district has BJP MLAs but no representation in the new ministry. There is unrest among party workers; it will have consequences,” Vasava warned.  Congratulating the new team, Modi said, “These are outstanding karyakartas who have devoted their lives to public service and spreading our party’s development agenda.”

    BJP general secretary in-charge of Gujarat Bhupendra Yadav said a combination of factors went into deciding the new team. “We wanted to include fresh, young and experienced faces. They may not have ministerial experience but they got enough administrative exposure. The outgoing ministers have loads of experience; their talents will be used to expand the party’s base,” Yadav said.

    As expected, Patidars and OBCs found the biggest representation in the ministry. The new team has seven Patidar ministers, including the CM. Four of them are from Saurashtra, where the BJP did badly in the last elections. It also has two Brahmins, two Kshatriyas, two SCs and four STs. 

    Modi is known for bold decisions and political innovations, said a veteran Gujarat journalist. “In 2005, after taking charge as Gujarat CM, Modi refused to repeat any incumbent in the local body elections. He fielded new faces and that gamble paid off. Ever since, such experiments are carried out in Gujarat first and replicated elsewhere later,” he said. 

    Surprise phone callsLike the CM himself, most of the ministers were surprised to get a phone call from state BJP unit chief C R Patil asking them to attend the swearing-in ceremony

  • AAP begins membership drive to take on BJP in 2022 Gujarat elections

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Upbeat after performing well in the recent local bodies polls in Gujarat, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday launched a drive to increase its membership to 50 lakh in 50 days as part of preparations for the 2022 Assembly polls.

    Under its ‘Mission 2022’ plan, the party will open 55,000 booth-level committees over the next six months and take efforts to strengthen its district set up, state unit chief Gopal Italiya said at a press conference here.

    “We are launching a mobile number, 72800-38003, for people to give a missed call and become AAP members. We will contest the 2022 election with full strength and will not let the BJP win this time,” he added.

    Gulab Singh, AAP MLA from Delhi and the party’s Gujarat in charge said its south zone in charge in the state, Manoj Sorathiya, had been made general secretary as reward for the wonderful performance in the Surat municipal corporation polls.

    “The 2022 Assembly election will be a direct contest between the BJP and AAP,” Sorathiya said.

  • BJP, Congress afraid of people who voted for AAP in Gujarat, says Arvind Kejriwal

    By ANI
    SURAT: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that BJP and Congress are afraid of the people who voted for the AAP in the local body polls in Gujarat.

    “I have been listening to statements of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, over the past few days after the results. They are perturbed and a little scared. We have to understand that they are not scared of you or AAP. They are scared of people who voted for you,” Kejriwal said addressing the newly elected corporators in Surat.

    Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met newly elected corporators of the party and its volunteers here, after getting a rise in the local body elections in the state.

    Addressing the event, Arvind Kejriwal asked the reason of being BJP always the ruling party in the state for the last 25 years.

    “Why has BJP been governing here for the last 25 years? It is not because of they are doing great but because there is no opposition. People of the state are facing a lot of issues but when they saw option (AAP) against the BJP, they applauded you (by making AAP win),” he said.

    The BJP on February 23 put up a spectacular performance in the Gujarat municipal corporation elections improving its numbers over the 2016 polls and nearly decimating the Congress. The party has retained power in all municipal corporations, which went to the polls. The performance appears all the more credible as BJP has been in power in the state for the last 25 years.

    Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) put up a fight in Surat where it won 27 seats in its first outing. The BJP secured 93 out of the 120 seats in Surat, while the AAP secured 27. Congress and other parties did not win any seats. 

  • Gujarat: Former MLA Kanu Kalsariya sentenced to six months in jail

    By PTI
    BHAVNAGAR: Former MLA Kanu Kalsariya and six others were sentenced to six months in jail by a court in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district on Thursday for damaging property during a protest against a cement company.

    Kalsariya, who is now with the Congress, and the other six were found guilty under IPC sections 427 (damage to property) and 447 (trespassing).

    Judicial Magistrate A G Dodiya sentenced them to six months of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on each of them.

    However, all the accused got bail immediately, to enable them file appeals.

    In November 2018, Kalsariya had led a protest against land acquisition for cement plant in Talaja area of district.

    An employee of UltraTech Cement lodged a complaint at Datha police station against Kalsariya and others for illegally entering in the company’s mining site in Talaja tehsil with JCB machines and damaging property worth Rs 5 lakh.

    Kalsariya, a three-time BJP MLA, left that party in 2012 and joined the Congress in 2018 after a brief stint with the AAP in between.

  • Gujarat: AAP to contest all seats in local polls, releases first list

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Aiming to expand its footprints nationally, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced to contest all seats in the upcoming local bodies polls in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Releasing the party’s first list of 504 candidates in Ahmadabad, Delhi MLA and AAP’s national spokesperson Atishi said the residents of Gujarat were looking for an alternative as the BJP had been in power in the state for many years.

    Elections to the local bodies — municipalities, municipal corporations, district and taluka panchayats — in Gujarat are likely to be held in February. “The AAP will contest on all seats in the local bodies’ polls in the state for the first time. With this, the party will enter the electoral politics of Gujarat as a strong alternative to the BJP. AAP will work to remove the BJP from power,” said Atishi.

    “Not just the local bodies’ polls, but AAP will also contest the Vidhan Sabha elections as well as other polls,” she added. The party held a road show in Ahmedabad after releasing the list of candidates. With the AAP spreading its organisational reach, the party hopes to counter ‘Gujarat Model’ with ‘Kejriwal Model’ of governance.

    Recently, it selected a young face, Gopal Italia, as president of its Gujarat unit to lead the campaign in the upcoming civic polls. Gulab Singh, party MLA from Matiala in Delhi, who is party co-incharge in the state, had earlier inaugurated the ‘AAP Mohalla Clinics’ in Ahmedabad.