Gandhinagar civic body to go to polls on April 24

Elections for Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) will be held on April 24, the Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) announced here today.
With this announcement, the model code of conduct has come into force in the state capital.
The poll results will be declared two days later.
As per the schedule released by the SEC today, an official notification for the GMC polls will be released on April 4. Candidates can file their nominations till April 9, while the last date to withdraw their candidature is April 12.
"While polling for 32 seats from eight wards will be held on April 24, counting as well as declaration of results will be conducted on April 26," the SEC said.

The Gandhinagar civic body had witnessed its first election in May 2011 after it was declared as a municipal corporation. At that time, BJP was defeated by Congress, as 18 out of total 33 seats were won by the Congress, while BJP managed to win just 15 seats.

However, within a year three corporators of the then ruling Congress joined BJP, which has been ruling the corporation since that time.
After the new delimitation was announced last month, the number of wards have been reduced to eight from the previous 11, while the number of seats came down to 32 from 33.

In December last year, large scale elections of local bodies were held in the state. The BJP had won in all the six municipal corporations and majority of municipalties, while the Congress had won majority of district and taluka panchayats.