Gujarat: Voting underway for Gandhinagar civic body, three municipalities

Ahmedabad, Oct 3: Voting for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) and three municipalities of Okha, Bhanvad and Thara in Gujarat began on Sunday morning, officials said.

Votes are also being cast for the by-elections to seats vacated in some municipal corporations, municipalities, as well as district and taluka panchayats.

People queued up outside the polling booths to cast their votes. The process began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

Nearly five per cent votes were cast in the first two hours in GMC, election officials said.

Elections are being held for 44 seats in GMC, for which a total of 161 candidates are in the fray, including 44 from BJP and Congress each and 40 from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), among others.

Apart from the traditional rivals - BJP and Congress, AAP has fielded candidates on almost all the seats in the local body election for which voting is being held Sunday.

Polls will be a test for the ruling BJP in the state, which brought Bhupendra Patel as the new chief minister of Gujarat, replacing Vijay Rupani along with all the ministers.

Elections are being held on 78 seats in three municipalities of Thara (Banaskantha district), Okha and Bhanvad (both in Devbhoomi Dwarka district), for which 205 candidates are in the fray, including 78 from BJP, 72 from Congress, 52 from AAP, among others.

Votes are also being cast for the by-elections to three seats in two municipal corporations - Ahmedabad and Junagadh - 42 seats in 26 municipalities, eight seats in seven district panchayats, and 43 seats in 37 taluka panchayats that were vacated since the elections in March elections.

As many as 24 candidates are in the fray in eight seats vacated in the district panchayat bodies for which BJP and Congress have fielded eight candidates, AAP seven, etc. By-election is also being held on 43 seats in taluka panchayat, for which 123 candidates are in the fray, including 43 from BJP as well as Congress and 28 from AAP.

AAP has entered Gujarat politics with local bodies polls and has fielded candidates across all the seats in the municipal corporations, municipalities, district and taluka panchayat bodies.

Elections to six municipal corporations in Gujarat were held in February and BJP had registered victories in all of them. BJP had also won a majority of municipalities, district and taluka panchayats in the February election.