Gujarat local polls: Vote counting underway in Gandhinagar, other bodies

Gandhinagar: Counting of votes for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, which began at 9 a.m. on Tuesday under tight police security, was underway, with the BJP winning three of the four seats in Ward 7 and Congress securing the remaining seat.

District Election Officer and Collector Ravindra Khatale visited the counting centre to review security arrangements. Security was strengthened at the centre to ensure that the counting process was conducted peacefully and impartially.

The counting is being held at the Government Commerce College in Sector 15, where votes are being counted for all 44 seats across the corporation's 11 wards.

A total of 130 candidates contested the elections, held on October 11. After three rounds of counting in Ward 7, covering Kolvada and Vavol, the BJP's Kinjalben Thakor won 7,306 votes, while party colleague Sonalben Vaghela secured 7,044 votes. BJP candidate Shaileshkumar Patel received 6,870 votes.

Congress candidate Naginbhai Nadiya, who contested the seat reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate, received 6,130 votes and was declared elected.

The other candidates in the ward included Congress' Fenil Patel, who received 6,817 votes; Chandrikaben Thakor, who secured 6,291; and Sonalba Gol, who received 5,888 votes. BJP candidate Bhavik Sutariya polled 5,930 votes.

The Aam Aadmi Party's candidates Chandrikaben Shrimali, Sureshkumar Patel and Rahulkumar Vaghela received 1,008, 715 and 447 votes, respectively.

The Ward 7 recorded 54,446 valid votes, 183 votes for the None of the Above (NOTA) option and seven invalid votes, taking the total to 54,636 votes recorded across the ward's four-seat contest.

The GMC elections recorded a turnout of 59.25 per cent on October 11, with 1,54,045 of the 2,59,985 registered voters casting their ballots. Ward 4 recorded the highest turnout at 74.78 per cent, while Ward 5 had the lowest at 48.63 per cent.

The BJP, Congress and AAP were the principal contenders in the elections. In the previous GMC polls, held in October 2021, the BJP won 41 of the 44 seats, while Congress secured two and the AAP one.

Counting is also underway for elections to the Okha and Thara municipalities and by-elections to vacant seats in other local bodies across Gujarat.

In Okha, 32 seats across nine wards went to the polls after four seats were won unopposed, while 24 seats across six wards were contested in Thara.

The results will determine the composition of the civic bodies for the next term.

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