Gujarat District Panchayat Presidents' Election Results 2018: Cross-Voting Aids BJP to Wrest 5 More Seats, Congress' Tally Down to 18
Ahead of the elections, the Congress had shifted several of its councillors to resorts in neighbouring Rajasthan to prevent being lured away by the BJP.
Gandhinagar, June 20: Elections were held in Gujarat for the presidents' posts in 31 district panchayats and over 200 taluka panchayats. The results dealt a major blow to the Congress which lost out 5 district panchayats to the state-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), primarily due to cross-voting by its legislators.
Out of the 31 district panchayat which elected new presidents, Congress held 23 of them ahead of the polls, whereas, the BJP ruled the remaining 8. However, following the elections, the Congress' tally dipped to 18, whereas, the BJP has increased it strength to 13 district panchayats.
The district panchayats which have been wrested by the BJP are: Ahmedabad, Patan, Bhavnagar, Mahisagar and Dahod.
While the Congress has blamed the BJP of using "money power" to ensure the cross-voting, the latter claimed the Congress representatives were "frustrated" by the party's inefficient leadership.
"Today’s results clearly show that the BJP has used its money power to snatch power from Congress in five district panchayats. The BJP has paid Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore to these members for switching loyalty during elections. The BJP has misused the government machinery,” state Congress' president Amit Chavda alleged.
BJP Gujarat unit chief Jitu Vaghani, however, refuted the charge saying the Congress lost due to "infighting and over-confidence".
Ahead of the elections, the Congress had shifted several of its councillors to resorts in neighbouring Rajasthan to prevent being lured away by the BJP.
According to Chawda, the BJP was offering their councillors between "Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore" to switch-over. He further alleged that those councillor rejecting the bribe were being "blackmailed" using the state machinery.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2018 10:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).