The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retains its hold in the Surat Municipal Corporation, which has a total of 120 seats spread across 30 wards of the city. The saffron party, which remains the dominant force in Gujarat, has won 115 seats, while the Congress has won one seat, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Arvind Kejriwal, managed to win 4 seats.
This year, the BJP fielded candidates on all 120 seats, the Congress and the AAP nominated 117 and 111 candidates, respectively. In total, there were a total of 483 candidates who were in fray in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections this year, as per the Gujarat State Election Commission. The state's poll body had earlier said that 1,059 candidates had initially filed nomination papers for 120 seats across 30 wards of Surat. Out of these, 561 forms were rejected while 16 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 483 nominees in the fray.
The municipal corporation elections in Gujarat, for which the Gujarat SEC ensured a three-tier security system, were being held under revised norms for Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations. Thus, every party tried to woo the people in their favour. For the BJP. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel campaigned extensively. Similarly, for the AAP, which is trying to increase its footprint in the state, the election campaign was led by its national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. These elections, meanwhile, will also give a chance to Congress, which has been out of power from Gujarat for more than two decades.
Catch all the LIVE Updates regarding Gujarat local body elections here
