Gandhinagar, (Samajweekly) The people of Gujarat have started looking for options other than the opposition Congress, seeking an alternative to the ruling BJP in the local body elections of six municipal corporations in Gujarat.
Parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have opened their accounts in Gujarat.
Making a debut in the state by fielding its candidates for the six municipal Corporations, the AAP gained 27 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) against the BJP’s 93 seats, becoming the main opposition party in the SMC. AAP candidates captured entire wards of 2, 3, 4, 5, 16 and 17 in the SMC and won 2 seats in ward 7 and a single seat in ward 8. The Congress could not even secure a single seat in Surat.
Similarly, AIMIM opened its account in Ahmedabad by winning two wards of Jamalpura and Maktampura, with all its candidates in both the wards winning. The Congress had a stronghold on these areas until now.
Besides that, the BSP gained three seats in ward number 6 of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC).
The people of Gujarat it seems have rejected the only opposition they have had until now, that of Congress in many areas. Beside Surat, the Congress could garner only four seats in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), whereas in 2015, it had secured 34 seats against BJP’s 38 out of the total 72.
Till now, there has been a direct fight between the BJP and Congress. The third option has always been rejected by the people of the state.
“The people of Gujarat are fed up of the BJP government, but they had no other option until now. We think that both the BJP and Congress are the same. We thank the people of Gujarat for supporting us in this election and helping us secure seats in SMC,” said Jaydeep Pandya, AAP General Secretary, Gujarat.
