BJP clinches Junagadh civic body from Congress

In a setback to Congress, ruling BJP in Gujarat here today snatched the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) from the Opposition party in the civic body election by winning 41 out of 60 seats.

JMC was the only municipal corporation ruled by the Congress in the state out of a total of seven big cities of Gujarat.

The BJP's victory comes after they trounced the Congress in the Lok Sabha election.

"BJP has emerged as the majority party by winning 41 seats, while the Congress has obtained 16 seats out of 60 seats of 20 wards in Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC). Two seats went to Bahujan Samaj Party and one independent candidate managed to get one seat," city election officer and Collector of Junagadh Alok Kumar Pandey said.

The elections for the corporation were held on Sunday and counting took place today. The civic body comprises 60 seats of 20 wards.

However, polling was held for 59 seats in JMC, as the Congress candidate for one seat in ward number 20 was declared uncontested by State Election Commission of Gujarat (SECG).

As per notification of SECG, 156 candidates, were in fray for the civic body elections. There were 2,11,298 registered voters in Junagadh.

The civic body election had witnessed a moderate 54.17 per cent voters.

Junagadh received the status of 'Municipal Corporation' in 2003 and first elections were held in 2004 for 51 seats of 17 wards. The BJP had easily captured the civic body by winning 35 seats.

However, tables turned in 2009, as Congress managed to snatch power from BJP by winning 28 seats. Then, BJP got 21 seats, BSP three and independent candidate bagged one seat.

After recent demarcation of the city limits, three new wards were added, taking the total number to 20 from 17. Thus, total number of seats also went up from 51 to 60 (three per ward).