Ahmedabad, Apr 24 (PTI) The high-decibel campaign for Gujarat’s local body elections ended on Friday, setting the stage for a three-cornered battle between the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the 2027 assembly polls.
As many as 9,992 local representatives are in the fray for the April 26 elections to 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats.
The polls are being held under revised norms for Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations, and required extensive delimitation and restructuring of wards in several districts.
Voting will begin at 7 am and conclude at 6 pm on April 26. If required, re-polling will be held the next day, and votes will be counted on April 28.
Several political parties held rallies and door-to-door campaigns to woo voters, roping in their top leaders at the state and national levels, understanding the importance as the state assembly elections remain a year and a half away.
The state leadership of the BJP, Congress and other parties held road shows and grand rallies till the last minute, as campaigning ended at 6 pm.
While civic issues such as the condition of roads and drinking water supply, among others, dominated the discourse, party leaders also raised the issue of women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The AAP has put in a concerted effort to clinch a considerable number of seats at the local level and strengthen its base for the 2027 assembly polls. The party’s national president, Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann launched the campaign even before the poll dates were announced.
For the BJP, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel jumped into the campaign wagon for his party’s candidates at various levels.
While the ruling BJP and Congress have traditionally remained the main rivals, with independents and candidates from smaller parties also trying their luck, AAP has emerged as a formidable competitor.
Elections will be held for the first time in nine newly constituted municipal corporations.
Apart from the BJP, Congress and AAP, the Nationalist Congress Party and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are also in the fray, which will result in multi-cornered contests in several places.
For the AIMIM, its chief Asaduddin Owaisi campaigned at the very end and addressed public gatherings in Ahmedabad and Bhuj, where he criticised the BJP over the Uniform Civil Code and urged people to vote against the ruling party.
Former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer M L Ninama, former radio jockey Abha Desai and former AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani are among the notable candidates in the fray.
Ninama, who recently took voluntary retirement and joined the BJP, will contest from the Odh seat in Shamlaji taluka for the Arvalli district panchayat elections, while Bhayani, who resigned as AAP MLA from Visavadar in 2024, has been nominated by the BJP from the Bhesan seat of the Junagadh district panchayat.
Desai, popularly known as RJ Abha, is the Congress’s candidate from ward number 10 of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.
Elections will be held in 34 district panchayats, 260 taluka panchayats, 84 municipalities and 15 municipal corporations, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot, making it one of the largest electoral exercises in the state.
More than 4.18 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. PTI KA PD ARU
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.