The Congress has won 21 out of 31 district panchayats in Gujarat, with the Bharatiya Janata Party suffering a major setback. However, the ruling BJP has managed to retain its urban share by winning all the six municipal corporations, but with reduced majority. They have also won 40 of the 56 municipalities in semi-urban towns, reported The Hindu.
BJP retained Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar. However, in rural areas adjoining these cities, the BJP has suffered as it lost district panchayats of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Jamnagar, Mehsana and Junagadh.
In what could be a direct outcome of the Patidar quota agitation, the native districts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel have both gone to the Congress. For the municipal polls, voting turnout was just 47%, while 67% voting was registered in the panchayat polls, indicating a strong disenchantment of the voters with the ruling dispensation.
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