Gujarat’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata (Party (BJP), took early leads as the counting of votes progressed on Tuesday with the party leading in 73 of the 231 Taluka Panchayat seats. The Congress is ahead in 11 seats and other parties in three seats. In district panchayats and municipalities, too, the BJP leads with 28 and 60 seats respectively, according to news agency ANI.

Following the the lead gained by BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Results of Nagar Palika, Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat polls across Gujarat give a crystal clear message- Gujarat is firmly with the BJP’s agenda of development and good governance. I bow to the people of Gujarat for the unwavering faith and affection towards BJP.”

BJP President JP Nadda said, “I thank the people of Gujarat for reposing their faith in BJP, a symbol of development and trust, in local body elections.”

The BJP gained a lead by winning 2,085 seats across several municipalities, district and taluka panchayats while the Congress settled with wins in 602 seats, according to News 18. 

The counting of votes begun on Tuesday, after the elections were held on Sunday with a 58.82% voter turnout in the municipalities, while the figure was higher for the district panchayats and taluka panchayats with 65.80% and 66.60% voter turnout respectively.

Riding on the recent success of the Municipal polls, the ruling BJP is expected to do well in these polls too. The BJP emerged victorious in the six municipal corporation polls of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Vadodara. While, the Aam Aadmi Party made its way in Surat by winning 27 seats, becoming the main opposition party in the corporation. 

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According to the Election Commission, from a total of 8,474 seats across 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats in the state, 237 seats remained unopposed and no form was filled for two seats in taluka panchayat. So, the elections were held on a total of 8,235 seats, it noted.

The BJP has put up 8,161 candidates, Congress 7,778 and AAP 2,090 among others, said the State Election Commission. Apart from rivals BJP and Congress, AAP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM were also in the fight fro local elections this time.

This was the first time the AAP, Delhi’s ruling party, contested civic polls in Gujarat fielding 470 candidates.

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Some villages in the districts of Panchmahal and Chhota Udepur decided to stay away from polling to mark their protest against  alleged “lack of development” in their localities.