The Bharatiya Janata Party took early leads in Gujarat on Tuesday as counting of votes for 575 seats in six municipal corporations – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar – was under way. The election to the civic bodies is a test for the BJP to retain power in all six.

According to the afternoon trends, the party was ahead in 236 seats, while the Congress was leading in 49. In 2015, the BJP won 391 of these seats and the Congress ended up securing 174.

The BJP was ahead in 80 seats in Ahmedabad, while the Congress was leading in 15. In Bhavnagar, the saffron party was leading in 20 seats and the Congress was ahead in seven. In Surat, the saffron party went ahead in 45 seats to the Congress’ 10. In Vadodara, too, the BJP gained a lead in 30 seats, while the Congress was able to advance in eight seats.

In Dariyapur, a Congress bastion in eastern Ahmedabad, the party has retained all four seats, according to The Indian Express. However, the party suffered a setback in Rajkot, where Congress corporator Jagruti Dangar from Ward No 13 lost to the BJP.

BJP’s Rajkot unit President Kamlesh Mirani claimed his party won all the seats in six of the 18 wards in the municipal corporation, even as counting was under way. Mirani claimed the BJP won 24 seats of the 72 seats, the newspaper reported.

This year, the BJP has won uncontested in Naranpura ward of Ahmedabad after the Congress withdrew its candidate. The Bahujan Samaj Party, meanwhile, managed to open its account in Jamnagar.

A total of about 2,276 candidates contested in the local body polls. Apart from this, nine candidates were in the fray for the bye-elections to two seats in the Junagadh Municipal Corporation. There are 577 candidates of the BJP, and the Congress has fielded 566. As many as 470 politicians from the AAP, 91 from the Nationalist Congress Party, 353 from other parties, and 228 Independents fought in the election.

The BJP’s campaign had primarily put focus on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and the Statue of Unity. The Congress, meanwhile, had promised a “GujRight” card that would provide access to public amenities to all.