Gujarat polls: AIMIM opens account, wins seven seats in Ahmedabad civic body

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) marked its debut in Gujarat polls by winning seven seats in the civic body of Ahmedabad. Results of polls to six municipal corporations were declared on Tuesday, and AIMIM, which fielded 22 candidates in six wards, ended up with seven wins in two wards.

In Gujarat, each ward of a municipal corporation has four seats. While a panel of four candidates won in Jamalpur ward, three out of its four contestants won in Maktampura ward in Juhapura area of the city.

Those who won in Jamalpur included former Congress corporators Mohammad Rafiq Shaikh and Mushtaq Khadiwala, while the third victor, Bina Parmar, was a new face.

The AIMIM did not field candidates in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, which also witnessed civic polls on February 21 along with Ahmedabad.

Owaisi had addressed a large gathering as part of AIMIM's campaign.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved overwhelming support in the municipal corporation elections in six cities of Gujarat, polling for which was held last Sunday. BJP, an already ruling party in these six municipal corporations, got reelected with a larger number of seats this time.

Out of the total 576 seats of the six municipal corporations, the BJP secured a whopping 485 seats. The opposition Congress was reduced to 45 seats. The Aam Admy Party (AAP), the debutant in the local body elections in Gujarat, secured 27, while the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Assaduddin Owaisi managed to win two wards in Ahmedabad.

In Vadodara, the BJP captured 66 seats out of the total 76 seats of the VMC, the rest going to the opposition Congress.

In Rajkot, the hometown of the Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, the BJP gained all 18 wards, except one, which went to the Congress. The BJP captured 68 seats out of the total 72 seats of the RMC, the rest 4 seats won by the opposition Congress. The Congress had secured 34 seats in the previous elections held in 2015.