Gandhinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has solidified its grip on local governance in Gujarat, securing around 300 seats unopposed ahead of upcoming elections. This move comes after a thorough review of nomination papers concluded on Monday.
As of the last day for filing nominations last Saturday, the BJP had already claimed 135 seats without contest. Following scrutiny, an additional 165 seats brought their total to more than 300 uncontested victories by Monday night. The window for candidates to withdraw their nominations closes at 3 pm on April 15, which could further alter these numbers.
Of the nearly 10,000 total seats across the state’s local bodies, over 300 were already decided without any voting taking place. This includes significant counts like 20 seats in municipal corporations and nearly 200 in municipalities alone. Comparatively, during the previous local body elections in 2021, there were only about 221 uncontested seats – most of which were also won by the BJP.
Election officials noted that many nomination forms faced rejection due to various technicalities such as signature discrepancies and incomplete affidavits. Out of a staggering 39,387 forms submitted — including those for by-elections — more than 9,500 were rejected. This leaves around 29,792 hopeful candidates vying for positions.
In one notable incident affecting Gandevi Municipality in Navsari district, the BJP secured a majority after several Congress candidates failed to submit required documentation on time — just minutes past the deadline led to their disqualification.
The party also made gains in Shehra Municipality and Unjha Municipality due to this trend of uncontested wins.