Local polls: AAP expands Gujarat footprint, wins Narmada district panchayat, 12 taluka panchayats

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s efforts to strengthen its grassroots base in Gujarat ahead of the 2027 assembly elections paid off with the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit winning a district panchayat - Narmada - and 12 taluka panchayats on Tuesday for the first time. Also, the party's seat tally across local bodies in Gujarat, where voting took place on April 26, jumped manifold compared to the 2021 elections. In results declared so far, the AAP won over 350 seats across local bodies, party's state president Isudan Gadhvi claimed. Its performance in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), however, was not up to the mark where it won seats in single digit compared to a creditable 27 in the 2021 elections. The AAP even emerged as the main Opposition to the ruling BJP in various municipalities, Gadhvi stated. The AAP had fielded a total of 5,445 candidates across various local bodies, including municipal corporations. Apart from the Narmada district panchayat, the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit won taluka panchayats of Garud Eshwar, Chikda, Gudeshwar, Walia, Bagasara, Lalpur, Junagadh, Poshina, Visavadar, Sagbara, Chhota Udepur, and Kwant spread across different districts. In the 2021 elections, the AAP had won 27 seats in municipal corporations (all in Surat), nine in municipalities, two in district panchayats, and 31 in taluka panchayats. In the assembly elections that followed in December 2022, the party won five seats. Polls were held on April 26 to elect 9,992 local representatives to 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats and counting of votes was taken up on Tuesday. The AAP had started preparing for the local body polls much in advance and even declared the list of candidates much before the announcement of election dates. AAP convenor Kejriwal and his party colleague, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, made several rounds of Gujarat in the run up to elections and addressed rallies in all four zones where polls were being held, pitching the party as a strong contender and an alternative that people can bank on. Addressing the media, Gadhvi asserted the AAP has performed strongly in the polls and emerged as the second-largest party in Gujarat. ''Our candidates, who fought on their own resources, emerged as revolutionary warriors for Gujarat in these elections. Despite attempts to stop their nominations, challenging conditions, and efforts to become the voice of the people of Gujarat, all these candidates fought strongly,'' he maintained. The Gujarat AAP president said their victory came amid the BJP's ''authoritarianism, hooliganism, misinformation'' campaigns, jailing of many workers and filing of FIRs against them. The party received strong support in many seats across taluka, district, municipalities and municipal corporations, due to which the people of Gujarat now have an alternative in the AAP, he insisted. ''In many places, the party is in a position to form ruling administrations in taluka panchayats. It has a strong presence in district panchayats, and has emerged as a strong opposition in municipalities,'' he declared, giving the credit for the success to workers, candidates, their families and leaders. Gadhvi stated after this result, the party will come forward even stronger and prepare for change in the 2027 assembly elections. State AAP organisation general secretary Manoj Sorathiya said the party lost many panels in the Surat Municipal Corporation by a very small margin, but remains in the role of opposition in the diamond city.

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