Ahmedabad, Feb 19: The Bharatiya Janata Party recorded the most impressive performance in this round of civic elections in Gujarat, bagging 47 out of the 75 municipalities contested. However, the party's tally came down as compared to 2013, when it had won 59 of the same 75 nagar palikas which went to polls.

Congress, the prime opposition in the state, improved its record as it bagged 16 municipalities - 5 more than it won in the 2013 nagar palika elections.

The BJP, however, downplayed the Congress' surge, saying the voters who did not vote for them chose the Independents. "This result has only proved that the Congress, despite playing caste politics, has been rejected by the people of Gujarat," said BJP state unit chief Jitu Vaghani.

For the Congress, the result is reflective of the gains made by the party in the recently contested assembly elections in the state. "Our impressive run in the assembly elections has continued in the civic polls as well. Not only the number of nagar palikas, our tally of councillors have also increased," said Party MLA Alpesh Thakor.

In the assembly elections held in December last year, the BJP registered its most unimpressive performance in the past two decades, winning 99 seats in the 182-member assembly - only 7 more than the majority mark. Congress, on the other hand, improved its tally from 60 to 77 seats.

Despite improving its tally in the nagar palika polls, Congress has much to introspect as they lost all the civic bodies in Amreli district - the largest in Saurashtra belt - where they won all assembly segments in 2017 elections.

The party also faced drubbings in the local bodies of tribal region, despite veteran Congressman and Union minister of state Naran Rathwa being involved in the electioneering.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2018 08:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).