BJP retains Junagadh civic body with greater mandate

The BJP Tuesday retained the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) in Gujarat by securing a larger mandate of 51 seats decimating the Congress to just one seat in the 60-member body.

The BJP has improved its tally by seven seats to win 51 out of 56 seats that went to polls on July 21, results for which were announced Tuesday.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has emerged as the second largest party by winning four seats.

Out of total 60 seats in JMC, the election was held for 56 seats. While candidates of the BJP were declared elected unopposed on three seats, the form of a BJP nominee stood rejected in another instance.

The NCP registered a surprise win on four seats.

In a stinging defeat, the tally of the main opposition Congress, which had 15 corporators, has shrunken to just one seat with Manjulaben Pansara the only saving grace for the party. Pansara won on a general seat from ward number 4.

The Congress was affected by a leadership crisis after its city president Vinu Amipara resigned to join the BJP just before the election along with a large number of party workers.

The BJP had wrest control of the JMC from the Congress in previous election by winning 44 seats.

The ruling party celebrated its victory by bursting fire crackers at its state headquarters, 'Kamalam', in Gandhinagar.

"We are grateful to the people of Junagadh for this grand victory. The Congress has won only one seat, which shows the party is fading from memory of people. People of Junagadh put trust in the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah," said state BJP unit president Jitu Vaghani.