Taking the responsibility for Congress' debacle in the Gujarat district panchayat polls, state unit president Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani resigned from their posts on Tuesday. After submitting his resignation as Gujarat Congress chief to party president Sonia Gandhi, Chavda told PTI that he will work as a common party worker from now on.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has won all 31 seats, wiping out Congress. The counting of votes for Sunday’s local body polls in 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats, and 231 taluka panchayats was conducted on Tuesday.
In 2015, the BJP had won 22 seats and Congress seven, while two were won by others. But this time, the BJP has wiped out everyone by bagging all seats.
The Congress could win only 1,768 seats and secured only three municipalities but failed to open its account in any district panchayat. The grand-old party could win only a few taluka panchayat bodies. "The election results are totally opposite to what our expectations were. We had received good responses from people during our campaigning but the results do not reflect it. People have raised doubts on EVMs and all these things should be probed," Chavda said.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi confirmed to PTI that Dhanani has also sent his resignation today. He said that the top brass of Congress will decide the future course of action. "Central leadership of the Congress has asked Chavda and Dhanani to continue on their posts till the time their replacements are announced," he added.
In the first phase of civic polls held last month in Gujarat, the BJP had won all the six municipal corporations.