Congress wins maiden Gandhinagar civic poll

Gandhinagar, April 21: In a setback to BJP in general and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in particular, Congress on Thursday, April 21 won 18 out of 33 seats that went to polls on April 19 for the newly-constituted Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC).

The maiden contest for 33 GMC seats was a keenly-contested battle between ruling BJP and opposition Congress as Gandhinagar parliamentary seat has been represented by senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani.

Senior Congress leader Narhari Amin, ecstatic after the final tally of 18 and 15 between Congress and BJP respectively, said “The people of Gandhinagar have voted against the Modi government. Congress has started year 2011 with hoisting victory flag in State capital Gandhinagar."

This is the beginning of end to Modi rule and will be reflected in 2012 Assembly polls. GMC elections have indicated that people want change, he said.

116 candidates contested for 33 seats spread across 11 wards of the civic body which was formed following the Gujarat High Court order of September 17, 2009.

Gandhinagar was a notified area administered by the state government before it announced formation of the municipal corporation on March 17, 2010.

Out of 8 municipal corporations of the state, Congress is now ruling two while BJP in six.

Sixty percent polling was registered for the civic poll that passed off almost peacefully, barring a stray incident of a verbal spat between the Congress and BJP worker.

PTI