Political parties gear up for upcoming local body polls in Gujarat

With the announcement of the schedule for local elections in Gujarat, major political parties have started preparations for the polls. Municipal and panchayat elections are to be held on February 21 and 28 respectively.

Ahmedabad: The local self-government bodies' elections assume the semblance of mini-state assembly polls in Gujarat. More than four crore people — 90 per cent of the total voters of Gujarat — are taking part in these elections.

Ahead of the 2022 state assembly elections, these polls assume the utmost significance.

According to the State Election Commissioner, the polls to the six municipal corporations in Ahmedabad will be held on February 21, while the elections to 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats will be conducted on February 28.

The major political parties have completed the process of gauging the sense of the people.

Names of the candidates of the state's election committee of all the municipalities across the state will be declared February 3.

The process of seeking tickets and declaration of candidates

In the local self-government bodies' elections, this time, parties like BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) are in the fray.

The BJP and the Congress have completed the process of gauging the public's mood whereas the AAP has started contacting people door-to-door and even declared the list of its candidates.

The BJP has appointed three observers per ward in every municipal corporation.

These observers include MPs, former MPs, MLAs, party members and the presidents of the party's city and district units.

The observers went to their respective wards and collected the bio-data of the aspiring candidates between January 24 and January 26.

There were more than 7,000 aspiring candidates who had come up with their bio-data before the BJP observers.

• Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad has the biggest corporation with maximum numbers of wards and the highest budget. This city has 48 wards.

If we count four seats per ward, there are 192 wards. There have been 2,037 forms submitted by the aspiring candidates, which means in every ward, an average of 43 candidates have staked their claims.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation includes Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East and Ahmedabad West Lok Sabha constituencies.

There are 14 wards in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha, of which 579 forms have been submitted.

The maximum forms are from Thaltej ward (61 forms) and Stadium ward (28 forms).

In Ahmedabad East, 771 forms have been submitted, which include Kubernagar (maximum 102 forms) and Saijpur (minimum 28 forms).

There have been 687 forms submitted in Ahmedabad West, in which the maximum number of 50 forms were submitted in Amraivadi and the minimum number of 15 forms were submitted in Jamalpur.

• Surat

Surat has 30 wards where 1,949 aspiring candidates have filled their forms. The maximum number of 103 forms have come from Adajan-Pal-Ichhapur ward, while the minimum number of 36 forms have come from Kapodra.

• Bhavnagar

Bhavnagar city has 13 wards, where 595 forms have been filled.

There have been 46 forms from each ward, of which the maximum forms are from Ghogha circle and Akvada (65), while the minimum forms are from North Krushnanagar and Ruvana (13).

• Vadodara

Vadodara city has 19 wards, where 1,159 forms have been filled. Each ward has 61 forms. Ward number 6 has a maximum of 115 forms, while the ward number 15 has a minimum of 49 forms.

• Rajkot

Rajkot Municipal Corporation has 18 wards in which 895 forms have been filled. Each ward has 50 forms.

• Jamnagar

Jamnagar Municipal Corporation has 16 wards under which 550 forms have been filled. Each ward has 34 forms.

The maximum number of 58 forms are from ward number 10, while the minimum number of eight forms are from ward number 12.

The ultimate decision lies with BJP election committee

The BJP election committee consists of 13 members which include the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the BJP state president, MPs and the secretaries of the organization.

The committee will announce the list of candidates after deliberation. The committee will hold its meeting from February 1 to February 3.

For some key seats, the names of the candidates are forwarded to the central election committee, as the work done by the corporator of the respective area has to be taken into consideration.