BJP retains civic body in Junagadh, wins 51 of 56 seats

RAJKOT: Ruling BJP retained Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) election by bagging 51 out of 56 seats that went to polls on Sunday.
The Congress tally was reduced to a humiliating one from 15 in the 60-seat civic body. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won four seats. The BJP had already won three seats unopposed, taking the total tally of the party to 54 in 60-seat civic body.
Talking to TOI, P S Zamsingh, Junagadh district collector, said, “The polling was held on 56 seats while three seats were declared uncontested. Byelection will be held for one seat where BJP nominee was disqualified.”
After the result, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that “the people of Gujarat have showered blessings on BJP candidates in the elections to Junagadh Municipal Corporation and other district and taluka panchayat elections. The people have always instilled faith in politics of development.’’
Congress failed to keep its flock together
Congress’ crushing defeat was imminent as the party failed to keep its flock together as six candidates from two wards withdrew their nomination forms, making it a cakewalk for the BJP nominees.
In ward 3, Congress candidates Hasina Pathan, Manoj Bloch, Aslam Kureshi and Akram Kureshi withdrew their nomination forms, while Haja Karamta and Bhavna Tank did the same in ward 9 and 13 respectively. As many as three Congress candidates had extended their support to the BJP.
One Congress candidate could not file nomination as he did not get the party’s mandate on time while another candidate’s nomination was rejected during scrutiny. The only Congress candidate who was Manjulaben Pansara from ward 4.
Ahead of the election, Vinu Amipara, Junagadh city Congress chief had also joined BJP with his supporters.
Congress’ top loses included former mayor Satish Captain. BJP city unit president Mahendra Mashru, former MLA, Girish Kotecha and Dhiru Gohil won from their respective wards. Gohil is likely to be new mayor of Junagadh.
Nitin Bhardwaj, JMC election in-charge of BJP said, “This is our biggest victory and we are thankful to voters.”